"The Fast Foodie" Review

"The Fast Foodie," a dramatic mockumentary short, opens like a true crime news report, but the whole time Jerry Duppa (Hannes Phinney), a fast food blogger, talks about drive thru chow with the attention to detail of a Michelin chef.

Though at first his love of fast food and dedication to his blog are apparent (almost admirable in a to-each-his-own kind of way), a sense of loneliness wafts into the film like a toxic mist. But the loneliness of one man in his car going from drive thru to drive thru is nothing to the lurking danger when the audience finds out that Jerry has health problems. His doctor-ordered switch to diet soda and no fries doesn't stick for long. As Jerry says, "I gotta be me."

It is at once heroic and pathetic how, for better or worse, Jerry embraces his chosen diet. He is a trash food connoisseur, a true believer. This hands-off examination of the modern diet and medical consequences lets the lifestyle speak for itself. Far from riveting, there are no dramatic consequences, just creeping bad health and the deteriorating life quality of living in and out of drive thrus, one's only interaction a brief exchange of money for food.

Co-writer/director Mathew Bardocz paints an unnervingly accurate picture of a culture of isolation and instant gratification, a grim culture in which egocentric motivation and too-little-too-late action could slowly kill us all. Worst of all, watching this film exposes audiences to the very real danger that upon leaving they will crave zucchini fries.