Vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix and be rewarded with a figure from your youth – Tom as The Hamburgler! “Robble! Robble!”

By the way, we’ve been flirting with the Top 3 over at buzzComix for most of the month. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could climb a little higher toward the top? I know *I* would find it interesting!

As the comic depicts, Cami and I did get to see Super Size Me this weekend. How we managed to avoid the minefield of crap carpet bombing theaters last week is still beyond my comprehension. Aw… We missed Garfield? NUTS!

Super Size Me was a very interesting documentary. Well written and “acted” by its creator Morgan Spurlock. By now you’re probably already familiar with the gimmick. In an attempt to recreate the amount of fast food consumption by the average American, Spurlock restricts his diet to items sold only at McDonald’s for 30 days. Cameras follow him around as he tries to find the root of our country’s poor nutrition habits while McNuggets ravage his liver.

I would say there’s nothing the movie tells you that you don’t already know. Yes, fast food is bad for you. Yes, some people don’t exercise personal responsibility when consuming it. But I think what Spurlock achieves is packaging this information in a way that is (if you’ll excuse the pun) more digestible. The facts and figures don’t overwhelm and the physical effects on Spurlock’s body speak for themselves.

Starting at above average health, Spurlock gained over 20 pounds in less than 30 days. His glucose levels were so high, it was like he ate ONE POUND of sugar every day (on average). His high fat diet had let to his liver going toxic – similar to someone on an alcohol binge. Around day 22, he was staring at liver failure and some irreversible effects from his experiment.

It’s hard to gauge what long-lasting effects Spurlock’s expose will generate. Obviously McDonald’s has already taken steps to counter-act the bad publicity by removing the “Super Size” option from their menus and introducing more salads and yogurt. (They swear up and down this change is not related to the movie).

But where Super Size Me fails is in providing any suggested solutions for combating this problem. The information is served up to shock us, but our tongues are left wagging. What do we do when we return to our everyday lives?

Spurlock has a girlfriend who is a vegan chef. She prepares for him a specially designed menu to bring his body back to normal. Not everyone is so fortunate! And does Spurlock expect all of us to go vegan? He never suggests anything!

Spurlock’s vision is nearly myopic in his relentless attack on The Golden Arches, meanwhile overlooking societal pressures that result in some of the poor nutritional choices families make. As a whole, we’re working longer hours, taking less vacation and running our kids from soccer practice to piano recitals. There isn’t often enough time to do what’s best. This facet is ignored.

I’m not making excuses and maybe there were too many sides to the issue for Spurlock to cram into a two hour running time. But they were some of the issues that crept into my head after watching the film.

Regardless of how you dissect the issue, Super Size Me will force you to re-examine your life and what you put into your body. If anything, it spurs debate – and that’s never a bad thing.

If you want to spur a little debate of your own, the THorum is always open, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Join up and let us know what you think of Super Size Me!