Super Size Me

Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary written, directed, produced, and performed by Morgan Spurlock. Its central event is Spurlock’s self-imposed thirty-day diet of food purchased exclusively from McDonald’s, beginning February 1, 2003. He established rules: he would eat three McDonald’s meals daily, try every item on the menu at least once, avoid exercise beyond normal walking, and accept a “Super Size” meal whenever an employee offered it. The film records his meals, interviews, weigh-ins, and laboratory results while connecting his experience to broader national questions about fast-food marketing, portion sizes, and obesity in the United States at that time.

Spurlock starts the project at 185 pounds, according to the film, and is followed by doctors who express concern as his condition changes. He reports headaches, fatigue, mood swings, heart palpitations, sexual dysfunction, and cravings; his weight rises by roughly twenty-four and a half pounds. His doctors note elevated cholesterol and troubling liver-enzyme readings, and one advises him to stop. The documentary follows his relationship with vegan chef Alexandra Jamieson, then his girlfriend, whose reactions supply a counterpoint to the experiment. Footage of school lunches, industry advertising, and interviews with nutrition and public-health figures broadens the narrative beyond Spurlock’s experience.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, where it received the Directing Award for Documentary. Roadside Attractions released it theatrically in the United States on May 7, 2004. It became a major commercial success for a nonfiction feature, earning more than $22 million worldwide on a reported production budget of about $65,000. Super Size Me was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 77th Academy Awards, although Born into Brothels won the prize. The film’s popularity made Spurlock a prominent television and documentary figure and stimulated press coverage of McDonald’s menu.

Super Size Me has drawn scrutiny. Commentators questioned whether results from one participant could be generalized. In 2019, he acknowledged sexual misconduct and resigned from the production company he had founded; this disclosure affected discussion of his work. The film nevertheless remains notable for its first-person format and for the debate it provoked. McDonald’s ended its Super Size option in the United States during 2004, but the company said the decision had been planned before the documentary’s release and was not caused by the film. A sequel, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, premiered in 2017 and examined chicken industry.