Bowling for Morgan (2004 Video) User Reviews

"Morgan Spurlock was overeating"

[joshuak47 · 4/10 · 22 November 2007]

The title encompasses most of our filmmaker's argument. And he's right. For 30 days, Morgan Spurlock ate at McDonald's, and most likely overate. Spurlock chose to do what the average McDonald's eater does. Spurlock, a healthy American, was definitely not (physically) an average McDonald's customer. But we got to see what McDonald's customers' habits would do to a healthy person. In this film's case, we see the creator's (Caswell's) initial physical: overweight, high blood sugar, and slight liver damage from drinking.

He supposedly eats at McDonald's for 30 days. We only see him eat there a few times though, and he doesn't actually show us his health progressively: just once at the beginning, and once at the end. We don't know what he eats every time, but sometimes we see him have a salad and water, sometimes chicken nuggets and fries, etc etc. I would be willing to bet, though, that he ate healthier than most people do at McDonald's.

We also see him running around frequently (wearing a McDonald's drink costume?). Anyway, this is called exercise, and it's not what the obese people at McDonald's do. Morgan Spurlock did the average amount of exercise that an American does, in order to place himself in the middle. I am almost positive that this man did an extremely high amount of exercise in order to balance out the fat in his McDonald's diet (he refused to say, though...).

He also apparently didn't drink for the duration of the experiment, since his liver got better. That would only change if you stopped drinking---even a "healthy" McDonald's diet would not magically change that.

Caswell's closing argument is that it's not corporations' fault that we're fat, it's our own fault. And that may be true. But if everyone believed that, then New York wouldn't have made trans-fats illegal, and illegal drugs wouldn't be illegal. After all, it's our own fault if we use addictive substances.

Also, I think he missed the point Morgan Spurlock was trying to make. I don't remember if Spurlock blamed McDonald's, but he definitely said "here's what eating super-sized meals will do to you." He was trying to get Fat America's attention.

Caswell, however, kept his diet and exercise regimen a secret. I have to wonder, if he got healthier by eating McDonald's, what in hell was he eating BEFORE he got on the McDonald's diet? He doesn't mention that either.

This was definitely an entertaining film, though. It had a personal story, and some parts almost certainly inspired by Jackass' (the TV show) antics.

Mildly amusing, but an amateurish effort

[ralphus44 · 4/10 · 6 February 2007]

There are many differences between the far superior "Super Size Me" and this amateurish knockoff. For one thing, Caswell was overweight and badly out of shape when the film begins, as opposed to the very healthy Morgan Spurlock. Who knows what kind of bad eating habits Caswell had beforehand? If anything, eating nothing but McDonalds for 30 days (including several salads and diet sodas) was probably an improvement over his normal eating style. Plus he is often seen running around and swimming (wearing a ridiculous burger suit), which certainly might have had an impact on his eventual weight loss.

Also, he spends too much of his time needlessly taking shots at Spurlock, which makes the film comes across less as an educational experience and more of an immature effort to discredit the filmmaker, rather than the film it's based on. It's at least watchable, though, mildly funny in spots and there are a couple of cute girls in it. Best of all, it's free online, so the only thing you'll waste are 34 minutes of your life watching it.

Missed the point

[ballz1340 · 1/10 · 8 August 2005]

This guy totally missed the point of "Super size Me". Morgan was not actually supporting or defending the two girls that sued McDonalds over their weight problems, he was just trying to show that obesity is a serious problem (especially in America) that can no longer be ignored.

Aside from that, while watching this I felt like I was watching a commercial for McDonalds. This guy was not trying to prove Morgan's experiment faulty so much as trying to endorse eating at McDonalds. If in fact this guy truly did lose 20 pounds from eating nothing but McDonalds he is a rare exception. McDonald's food is terrible for you and if you think you will lose weight like this guy on an "All McDonalds" diet, you are in for a big disappointment.

a bit psychotic

[jenkevin7 · 1/10 · 8 June 2005]

I thought it was filmed a bit psychotic, the infatuation with the water was too much , also ,you did not tie bowling in with the show,, so that was confusing. Why even bother with that name? You also did not show exercise or talk about the diet. also had no interviews that were worth listening to. did not not excite or entertain. found the music psychotic and gave you an uneasy feeling inside and then it played over and over again . scenes were too long ,as well as not enough camera angles. all in all he did not justify his means, You bashed on Morgan but did not show how you were doing things differently to make the diet work differently or did not explain how doing the same thing worked for you. I really got confused with the nudity type stuff,, I did not like that. he did not justify his banter about Morgana . Two thumbs down .

Didn't prove anything

[CaeserOct0 · 3/10 · 28 March 2006]

This is a movie you laugh at, not learn anything from. That's right, laugh at. It's not educational really. All of Scott Caswell's work is done very unscientifically. He also spends a lot of time doing stupid things like trying to talk to a girl at McDonalds, jumping into bodies of water dressed like a burger, and skateboarding with some kids in Iowa. He does probably have a decent point though. Eating fatty food makes you fat but I don't think anyone needs to watch this to learn this fact. If you have 34 minutes to spare, entertain yourself, cause hey it is free online. The bowling thing is probably a knock at Michael Moore by the way, if anyone is wondering.

Poor performance

[tchadic · 2/10 · 29 June 2006]

I found it problematic that the movie was titled "Bowling for Morgan" and was marketed as a sequel to the documentary "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock. It's focus on belittling Mr. Spurlock hobbled the film, and instead of creating a watchable counterpoint, it instead became an inadequate rebuttal that ran like a high school video project slanted toward smearing a classmate. The tacky "Two can play this game" marketing quickly limited how far the documentary could survive as a viable fact source and set it up for mockery.

"Bowling for Morgan" tried to respond to "Super Size Me." It failed. It failed because it misunderstood the point of Spurlock's documentary. "Bowling for Morgan" addressed only personal responsibility. All food is potentially harmful if it is misused whether in quantity or by quality. It is up to the person to decide which food and how much of that food that they eat. That is their responsibility as a person. They failed to address the quality of the food, the fat intake, the freshness, the processing. Those are things decided by the provider of the food before the person has the ability to choose which kind and what portion size they will eat. The provided food and the company who provides it is at least addressed in "Super Size Me."

Scattered and Juevenile

[alliedee · 1/10 · 7 May 2007]

I thought the movie was all over the place. I think Caswell was just trying to cash in on the money that was made in Supersize me. Watching him eat was making me more sick than watching Super Size me. I think he would have been better off doing a spoof of the movie or making a real film about how one can lose weight eating fast food. I would be interested in seeing exactly what he ate in those 30 days, I mean what was his guidelines he used to make decisions on what to eat, and the exercises he actually did. Unless all the running around and jumping in water was the exercise he performed. I don't even think those people in the film were real doctors. Maybe asking for all of this is to much to ask for in a 30 minute film but I am quite sure he could have done better than this.

Great Little Documentary

[shotgun5005 · 10/10 · 28 January 2006]

I think this documentary did a great job in showing who is truly responsible for obesity in America: THE American PEOPLE. The only ones to blames for our problem with obesity is ourselves. Scott Caswell is able to Eat just McDonald's food for 30 days and lose weight. Obesity is simply a problem of consuming too many calories and not exercising enough, you can get fat off any food if you eat enough of it just like Morgan Spurlock did in Super Size Me. Morgan OVERATE plain and simple. Eating sensibly at McDonalds Scott Caswell shows that it's not important what food you eat but how many calories you are taking in. Scott eats a variety of food off the McDonalds menu from their Salads to calorie encrusted Breakfast sandwiches and still manages to lose weight. We are responsible for the choices we make and the calories we consume, just because hi calories foods are offered doesn't mean we have to eat them.

Crack in the facade

[mark-oleary · 7/10 · 10 March 2008]

"Bowling For Morgan" has a couple of things going for it. First, it is shorter and less tedious than "Super Size Me" (Morgan Spurlock, take notice!). The latter film could have made its points in considerably less than the time of a feature-length film. Second, The film makes the important point that it's not just what you eat but how much. Personally, I can't put away the Mickey-D's like I used to, but I can't believe it's so unhealthy that a normal portion is bad for you. Yet, although the message of "Super Size Me" seems to resemble Ralph Nader's message about the Corvair ("unsafe at any speed"), the fact is Spurlock gorged himself on McDonalds' food, whereas Scott Caswell ate normal portions.

You could say that what's right about "Bowling" is what's right about Caswell's approach to the subject of fast food: normal portions (not a feature-length movie) and easy on the crap (rather than a zero-tolerance for fast food). "Bowling" gives the appearance of having just as much credibility as "Super Size Me," but with a less alarmist message. I'm going to have to track down what Spurlock had to say about this movie. "Bowling for Morgan" is not quite a rebuttal of "Super Size Me," but it definitely represents crack in the facade.