10 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 24, 2004 ARTS McDocumentary lacks passion By Alexandra Jones Day Arts Editor-- The Streets bring a new twist to rap 6 MOVIE REVIEW **, Call filmmaker Morgan Spurlock opportunistic and self-absorbed. Say that he ignores many issues he says he'll address in his new film "Super Size Me," Super Size and, well, you'd Me be pretty accu- At Michigan rate. A documen- Theater tary on the role fast food plays in Samuel msdwy the American obesity epidemic, the movie's primary conceit seems effective: The healthy Spurlock turns himself into a nutritional guinea pig by eating nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days. "Super Size Me" features all the facts, figures, interviews and testi- monials needed to convince audi- ences that American attitudes about food need to change - but Spur- lock's slick, MTV-era production and tongue-in-cheek tone undermine the strength of this evidence, making "Super Size Me" an ineffective non- exploration of the problems Spurlock purports to address, more of a bid for notoriety than an attempt at activism. The rules are simple: Spurlock must eat only what is sold over the counter at McDonald's franchises, three squares a day, and he has to try everything on the menu at least once. During his month-long McDi- et, Spurlock's health declines sharply. He gains 20 pounds, experi- ences shortness of breath, mood swings, impotence, and, during the last week of the trial, is seriously at risk for liver failure. To his credit, he manages to turn his own body into a science experiment without hogging too much camera time - but his smirking influence shows in every other aspect of "Super Size Me," from the rapid-fire editing to the By Joel Hoard Daily Arts Writer 6 'M' is for 'McLame.' anti-fat (not necessarily anti-fast food) subtext. He barely touches on the psychological, not just biologi- cal, effects of obesity. Most of Spurlock's narration plays over footage of obese people out on the streets and on beaches, fat asses featured and their faces digitally blurred. A (skinny) schoolgirl buys two bags of chips, a soft pretzel and candy from her cafeteria's lunch line. One segment features formerly obese Subway spokesperson Jared Fogel delivering a motivational speech; a fawning, none-too-svelte-herself mother introduces her obese teen daughter to Jared. "The world's not gonna change, you've got to change," he tells the sullen teen. The girl later explains that it's frustrating to hear someone who's lost weight tell her that they can do it when she thinks she can't - "I can't afford to go there and buy a sandwich every day." Good God, Morgan, you've made your point: Americans are ignorant when it comes to dietary health and nutrition. The problem with this latest indict- ment of American culture isn't that Spurlock forces his own opinion on the viewer - besides health exami- nations and mealtimes, Spurlock stays behind the camera; it's easy to forget that his experiment was the film's original gimmick. His criti- cisms of American attitudes about food are certainly warranted. The problem is that Spurlock doesn't have any reason to launch this tirade against Big Food, and it shows. "Super Size Me" is a combination of eye-opening statistics and gross-out imagery - sort of like a mash-up of Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation and MTV's "Jackass." Statis- tics and explanations lend the appear- ance of credibility, but there's no drive behind Spurlock's actions. After seeing this slickly presented, tongue-in-cheek "indictment" of McDonald's, how many people will really think twice before biting into their next burger? Spurlock's too- cool faux-commentary and apparent lack of empathy for his subjects over- shadow any good intentions. (It's doubtful Spurlock had any when he went ahead with the project.) Hey Morgan: Get down off your McCross and leave this argument to the activists who actually give a shit about people's welfare, not just their sound bites. On his 2002 debut, Original Pirate Material, British DJ/rapper Mike Skinner (a.k.a. The Streets) relied ' on a dark, brooding sound to paint The Streets a picture of the bleak urban A Grand Don't wasteland he Come for Free called home. It exuded the Vice/Atlantic cocky cock- ney's cheeky, in-your-face attitude. It was also the first hip-hop release from Britain to capture the attention of Stateside listeners. While Skinner's confidence, along with his superb production skills and quirky rap style, instantly endeared the MC to many fans, his bravura seemed like a limitation, making the Streets' debut sound flat at times. Skinner corrects the problem in a grand fashion on The Streets' sprawling follow-up, A Grand Don't Come for Free. The album encom- passes a wider variety of sounds and emotions and showcases a gen- tler, quietly confident Skinner. Serene tracks such as the boy- meets-girl tale "Could Well Be In," the mellow love song "Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way" and the break-up ballad "Dry Your Eyes," Skinner's best song to date, are the album's high points. "Dry Your Eyes" in particular shows Skinner's soft, sweet side with simple, beautiful production including strings and acoustic gui- tar as well as soft-hearted, unas- suming lyrics such as "I can't imagine my life without you and me / There's things I can't imagine doing, things I can't imagine seeing / It weren't supposed to be easy, surely / Please, please, I'm beg- ging, please." In terms of production, even A Grand's more raucous tracks show a more mature Skinner. "Fit But You Know It" takes rap-rock to a n unexplored level, combining a jagged garage rock guitar riff and pounding one-two drumming with humorous lyrics chronicling Mike's evening on the prowl at a nightclub. "I'm not trying to pull you," he sings. "Even though I would like to / I think you are really fit / You're fit, but don't you really know it." As with Original Pirate Material, Skinner's rapping on A Grand can be off-putting for unsus- pecting listeners, especially Ameri- can audiences. His thick accent and quirky rhymes make for a distinc- tive style that often sounds more like spoken word than traditional rapping. But once patient listeners have cleared the hurdle of simply getting used to Skinner's style, they will be treated to one of the year's best records.