Super Size Me
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: May 7, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A deliciously amusing socio-culinary prank. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianKaren Karbo
The film has accomplished something few documentaries manage: It's created a stir. It's got people thinking and talking. And avoiding the fries. Read full review
90
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It’s one of the blackest comedies to hit the screen since Dr. Strangelove. Spurlock proves himself a supersize talent; he makes you choke on every laugh. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The movie is zippy, laugh-out-loud funny, persuasive and at times horrifying, as Spurlock undergoes his unpleasant changes with good humor and bad tummy aches. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Riveting and darkly comic Super Size Me is a whip-smart documentary. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
I don't usually make recommendations of this kind, but if you or your kids have gone to a burger joint in the last few weeks, you really do need to see this movie. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A movie every American should see, although parts of it are close to unwatchable - notably an operating room sequence in which a pair of surgeons performs a gastric bypass, or "obesity surgery," as they like to call it, on a dangerously overweight patient. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Clearly an important film, if only for such disheartening reminders that a McDonald's salad with ranch dressing has more calories than a Big Mac or that Miami is the 15th fattest city in the country (Houston is No. 1). Read full review
80
EmpireOlly Richards
It’s a hugely enjoyable descent into epic gluttony. Read full review
80
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Sometimes exerts the gross-out fascination of reality TV's muckier specimens--its arc suggests a slow-motion "Fear Factor," or "Extreme Makeover" in reverse. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Spurlock's film proves yet again that the phrase "crowd-pleasing documentary" doesn't have to be an oxymoron. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The speed with which a healthy, relatively young stud can morph into a tub of lard is as horrifying as it is entertaining to watch. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Super Size Me is an anti-junk-food screed that manages to entertain even as it informs and alarms. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Super-entertaining, super-disgusting documentary. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This is a compelling cautionary tale hot-wired to your gag reflex. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
As enormously entertaining as it is appalling. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Although Super Size Me benefits from a number of interviews with nutritionists, lobbyists, lawyers, and the like, the film inevitably (but not unenjoyably) is dominated by Spurlock, who offers his sober-minded statistics and cheeky asides without ever devolving into an off-putting Michael Moore-like moralizing. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Super Size Me produces more laughs than a man's gastrointestinal distress should. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
An amusing McGimmick. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerD. Parvaz
The strength of Super Size Me lies primarily in Spurlock's character -- he comes across as an affable guy with a goofy sense of humor. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is the documentary that caused a sensation at Sundance 2004 and allegedly inspired McDonald's to discontinue its "super size" promotions as a preemptive measure. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James Adams
Watching Morgan Spurlock commit slow suicide in Super Size Me is rather like watching Nic Cage do the same in "Leaving Las Vegas," except here the "preferred" instruments of destruction are hamburgers and vanilla milkshakes instead of booze and cigarettes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A cautionary tale as well as an expose on the power of the American fast-food industry. That the documentary comes across as more than a sermon has a lot to do with Spurlock's personality, which is outgoing and instantly engaging. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The issue may be serious, but the tone is lighthearted, and that, more than anything else, makes Super Size Me a palatable cinematic entrée. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Spurlock's movie is the real-life slapstick record of a kamikaze Mac attack. Schlosser's book is the contemporary equal of Upton Sinclair's classic meatpacking muckraker "The Jungle." Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJames Greenberg
The results are as entertaining as they are sobering. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Primarily humorous in a believe-it-or-not fashion. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Goes down easy and takes a while to digest, but its message is certainly worth the loss of your appetite. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Super Size Me is exploratory, as opposed to being just numbingly didactic, and that's what makes it so engaging. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Slickly entertaining documentary. Read full review
63
PremiereKelly Borgeson
Made with obvious passion and humor (and a side of fries), Super Size Me is a mostly entertaining look at fast food, the billion-dollar businesses behind it, and its warped effect on our culture. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
Beyond any contention is Morgan Spurlock's gift for metabolizing common knowledge into uncommonly entertaining cinema. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Packs a lot of good information, witty visual aids and expert testimonials into its fast 96 minutes, and all the bad eating certainly makes for compelling if at times repugnant viewing. But the film ends up too short and, as a consequence, frustratingly glib. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Spurlock's movie is an attack on our eating habits, but it's also a prime example of an all-American sport--making a spectacle of oneself for fun and profit. Spurlock, you'll be surprised to learn, is developing a TV spinoff, with himself as host. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Tasty while you take it in, but larded down with empty cinematic calories. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Insofar as one can distinguish the investigative research from the career move, this Sundance prizewinner is effective muckraking, but it lacks much of a political program apart from the message that we're poisoning ourselves. Read full review
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