I can’t help thinking that the movie version of Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation is a missed opportunity. It’s a well made movie with fine ensemble cast but to my mind director Richard Linklater should have aimed it more at teenagers.
This, after all, is the consumer group whose stomachs and minds are subjected to relentless and skilled marketing of McDonalds and other fast food chains. 
Casting Avril Lavigne in a cameo role as an animal rights/no-global activist suggests that Linklater did want to appeal to a younger audience but the slow moving pace and disjointed narrative is not lively enough to hold their attention (my 12 year old daughter – a vegetarian like me – stopped watching after half an hour).
The character of Amber (played by Ashley Johnson) and her McJob would have provided a much better focal point at the start of the movie. Instead the lengthy introduction showing to the sales strategies, production methods and exploitation of Mexican illegal aliens in the burger factory slows the movie down.
I see that Schlosser has revised his original book to appeal to a to younger eaters (‘Chew On This’) – its only a shame that his contribution to the movie screenplay didn’t have the same objective.
