The film bounces back and forth so much that viewers get bored before they notice that, yes, that is Avril Lavigne acting rather poorly on the screen.

When I heard that there was a movie being made based on “Fast Food Nation” (the book) I thought, “What? Really?” The book came out almost five years ago. It’s a little late for a documentary.

But low and behold, it’s not a documentary. Eric Schlosser, the book’s author, and Richard Linklater, the film’s director, turned the non-narrative book into a narrative film. Gee, I wonder how this will turn out.

This was Linklater’s attempt at creating a politically charged film that changes things in our country. Unfortunately the film leaves viewers thinking that they’re stuck in the Fast Food Nation and aren’t going to get out.

He does shock audiences with his visual representation of the fast food industry, but the audience leaves the theater and quickly forgets about the message the film delivers, only remembering a few bloody moments.

The film follows the three or four separate stories that all circle around the evil, conglomerate “quick service” restaurant Mickey’s. The story touches on so many points of the book it’s hard to comprehend. Misuse of migrant workers and teen labor, treatment of cattle on farms and tainting of meat in factories — the film has all that and more. It’s a lot.

So much that it seems too hard to take, and guess what: it is. The film bounces back and forth so much that viewers get bored before they notice that, yes, that is Avril Lavigne acting rather poorly on the screen.

The film tries to do so much that it fails on all fronts. Viewers don’t get attached to any character no matter of how good the acting was. Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama and Bruce Willis all give stellar performances, but each one gets lost by the fact the story isn’t worthy of their abilities, and is just slightly more functional than Lavigne’s acting.

The individual stories get lost in the overall warning about the evils of the fast food industry. The plot really doesn’t go anywhere, it just lingers in a state of uncertainty. Then they shock you with the real footage at the end.

The camera seems static and detached from the scenes. This is a disappointment seeing as most of Linklater’s former works were nicely framed, and the camera really was a fly on the wall.

The film really comes down to the final scene in which viewer gets to witness the slaughter and deconstruction of live cattle. As joyous as seeing about 20 gallons of blood spill out of the heifer’s neck is, it really didn’t need to be seen.

But yet, every patron of McDonalds, Burger King and Hardees should know how ground beef is made en-mass. Each viewer sees this scene coming and yet, it still just appears out of nowhere. Seeing as it’s the final scene of the film and since no story really accomplishes any goal, the film leaves viewers distraught and depressed.

This movie needed some saving grace and suggestions on ways to change the fast food industry. Instead it ends like it begins, with more corporate scheming.

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