Film

Super Size Me

Name: Super Size Me
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2004
Cast: Morgan Spurlock, Daryl Isaacs, Lisa Ganjhu, Stephen Siegel, Bridget Bennett

Spurlock turns his own body into a science experiment, eating nothing but McDonald's for thirty days while doctors track the damage. It's part gonzo stunt, part public-health lecture, shot with the pace of a comedy but landing more like a horror movie. Funny, alarming, occasionally didactic — essential viewing for anyone who's ever supersized an order without thinking twice.

TMDb rating

6.7

If you liked this

Food, Inc.2008

Widens the lens from one man's stomach to the entire industrial food chain, showing how corn, chemicals and lobbying shape what lands on your plate. It's the systemic sequel Spurlock's stunt was gesturing toward.

But More sober and less personality-driven; you lose Spurlock's manic charm for corporate-org-chart pacing.

Fast Food Nation2006no page yet

Turns the same industry critique into a slow-burn ensemble drama, following meatpackers, teens and executives whose lives intersect through one burger chain. Cast is terrific and the tone stays grounded rather than sensational.

But It's fiction dressed as journalism, so the stakes feel diffuse compared to watching a real man's cholesterol spike.

That Sugar Film2014no page yet

An Australian film-maker eats only foods perceived as healthy but loaded with hidden sugar, tracking the toll with the same doctor-visit structure. Bright, playful, and just as damning.

But Covers similar ground to Spurlock's film almost beat for beat, so it can feel like watching a cover version.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Atomic Cafe1982

Same target as Spurlock's film: institutions selling reassurance while quietly harming people, turning their own propaganda against them — just fallout shelters instead of Happy Meals.

A found-footage collage of Cold War propaganda films, stitched together with dark comic timing so the government's own words become the joke. It's satire built entirely from real institutional footage.

But No narrator, no stunt, no single protagonist — it demands you piece the argument together yourself.

Fed Up2014no page yet

Narrated by Katie Couric, this doc goes after the sugar industry with the same righteous fury, using clear graphics and case studies of struggling kids instead of one adult's stunt.

But Heavier on statistics and less on personality, so it can feel more like homework than entertainment.

King Corn2007no page yet

Two friends grow an acre of corn and follow it into the food system, discovering how subsidised corn ends up in nearly everything Americans eat, McDonald's included.

But Gentle and rural rather than confrontational — don't expect Spurlock's angry energy.

Forks Over Knives2011no page yet

Makes the case for a whole-food, plant-based diet through interviews with doctors and patients who reversed chronic illness, offering the flip side to Spurlock's decline.

But Feels closer to an infomercial for veganism than a piece of storytelling.

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead2010no page yet

Joe Cross's sixty-day juice fast mirrors Spurlock's stunt in reverse — same structure of doctor visits and daily vlogging, but aimed at recovery instead of ruin.

But The uplifting infomercial tone can feel like a sales pitch for juicing rather than a documentary.

Chicken Run2000

Where Spurlock eats his way into a factory-farmed nightmare, this imagines the animals' side of the same assembly line, played for laughs instead of alarm.

A stop-motion prison-break comedy set in a chicken farm about to become pies, gorgeous Aardman craftsmanship wrapped around a surprisingly sharp jab at industrial food production.

But It's a family film with jokes about escape plans, not diet plans — the critique is background noise to the caper.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Both are structured as countdowns to bodily collapse caused by something legal, marketed and craved — just swap Extra Value Meals for heroin and amphetamines.

Aronofsky's brutal drama about addiction shows bodies and minds unraveling under the pull of substances, shot with the same escalating, clock-driven dread as Spurlock's thirty-day countdown.

But This is heavy, tragic filmmaking with no jokes and no recovery — a genuinely upsetting watch, not a fun one.