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Fast Food Nation (film)
Encyclopedia
Fast Food Nation is a 2006
American
/British
drama film
directed by Richard Linklater
. The screenplay was written by Linklater and Eric Schlosser
, loosely based on the latter's bestselling 2001 non-fiction book of the same name
. This film was the debut of pop rock
singer Avril Lavigne
as an actress.
Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear
) is the Mickey's hamburger chain marketing director who helped develop the "Big One", its most popular menu item. When he learns that independent research has discovered a considerable presence of fecal matter
in the meat, he travels to the fictitious town of Cody, Colorado
to determine if the local Uni-Globe meatpacking processing plant, Mickey's main meat supplier, is guilty of sloppy production. Don's tour shows him only the pristine work areas and most efficient procedures, assuring him that everything the company produces is immaculate.
Suspicious of the facade he's been shown, Don meets up with rancher Rudy Martin (Kris Kristofferson
), who used to supply cattle to the Uni-Globe plant. Rudy and his Chicana housekeeper (Raquel Gavia) both assure him that because of the plant's production level, several safety regulations are ignored or worked against; workers have no time to make sure that the manure coming from the intestines stays away from the meat. Don later meets up with Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis
), executive VP of Mickey's, who admits being well aware of the issue, but is not concerned.
Amber (Ashley Johnson
) is a young, upbeat employee of Mickey's, studying for college and living with her mother Cindy (Patricia Arquette
). While her life seems to be set, she continually faces the contrast between her current career and her own ambition, emphasized by her two lazy co-workers (Paul Dano
and Matt Hensarling) who, having heard of various armed robberies against fast food restaurants in the area, start planning their own.
Amber and Cindy are visited by Cindy's brother Pete (Ethan Hawke
), who encourages Amber to leave town and start a real career. Amber eventually meets a group of young activists (Aaron Himelstein
, Avril Lavigne
, and Lou Taylor Pucci
) who plan to liberate cattle from Uni-Globe as their first act of rebellion. They proceed to sneak up to a holding pen at the plant, but after breaking down the fence, they are shocked that the cattle make no attempt to leave. Upon hearing the police, they retreat and contemplate why the cattle decided to stay in confinement.
Raul (Wilmer Valderrama
), his love interest Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno
) and Sylvia's sister Coco (Ana Claudia Talancón
) are illegal immigrants
from Mexico
, trying to make it in Colorado. They all go to Uni-Globe in hopes of finding a job - Raul becomes a cleaner, while Coco works on a meat processing conveyor belt
. Sylvia, however, cannot take the environment, and instead finds a (less lucrative) job as a hotel maid. The inhumane working conditions quickly become apparent - Coco develops a drug habit, and begins an affair with her exploitative superior, Mike (Bobby Cannavale
).
Events take a tragic turn, when during a work accident, a friend of Raul's falls in a machine and gets his leg mangled. Raul, attempting to save him, falls and is injured. Sylvia, rushing to the hospital, is faced with the claim that Raul was also high on amphetamine
s at work. Because Raul is now unable to work, Sylvia has sex with Mike in an attempt to find a job at Uni-Globe. Sylvia ends up working on the "kill floor."
and Houston, Texas
and Colorado Springs, Colorado
, as well as in Mexico
. The meat packing plant was in Mexico as well.
indicates that the film has an approval rating of 51%, based on 136 reviews (70 "Fresh"; 66 "Rotten"), with an average score of 5.7/10.
A. O. Scott
of The New York Times
said the film, "while it does not shy away from making arguments and advancing a clear point of view, is far too rich and complicated to be understood as a simple, high-minded polemic
. It is didactic
, yes, but it's also dialectic
al. While the climactic images of slaughter and butchery — filmed in an actual abattoir — may seem intended to spoil your appetite, Mr. Linklater and Mr. Schlosser have really undertaken a much deeper and more comprehensive critique of contemporary American life ... The movie does not neglect the mute, helpless suffering of the cows, but it also acknowledges the status anxiety of the managerial class, the aspirations of the working poor (legal and otherwise) and the frustrations of the dreaming young. It's a mirror and a portrait, and a movie as necessary and nourishing as your next meal."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
awarded the film three out of four stars and added, "It's less an expose of junk-food culture than a human drama, sprinkled with sly, provoking wit, about how that culture defines how we live ... The film is brimming with grand ambitions but trips on many of them as some characters aren't given enough screen time to register and others vanish just when you want to learn more about them."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
felt "for all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie. It doesn't hold together or grip you the way a documentary might have. The people are sketchily drawn - just when you start to care about one of them, he or she vanishes. To get the consumer-beware message across, much of the dialogue sounds like preaching, an unnatural way to talk in what's billed as entertainment ... But it does get its message across. You're unlikely to leave the theater with a hankering for a fast food patty of any size."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
wrote, "Richard Linklater's rough-hewn tapestry of assorted lives that feed off of and into the American meat industry is both rangy and mangy; it remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper ... In the end, viewers waiting for an emotional and/or dramatic payoff will be disappointed. As a call-to-arms, it's highly sympathetic but surprisingly mild-mannered."
on May 19. It went into limited release in Australia
on October 26, 2006.
was released on March 6, 2007 and grossed $6.44 million in rentals in its first seven weeks.
was nominated for the Palme d'Or
at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Imagen Foundation
nominated Wilmer Valderrama
Best Actor in Film.
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
/British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
. The screenplay was written by Linklater and Eric Schlosser
Eric Schlosser
Eric Schlosser is an American journalist and author known for investigative journalism, such as in his books Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness and Chew On This.- Personal History :...
, loosely based on the latter's bestselling 2001 non-fiction book of the same name
Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry....
. This film was the debut of pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
singer Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
as an actress.
Plot
The film has several interwoven plot lines.Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
) is the Mickey's hamburger chain marketing director who helped develop the "Big One", its most popular menu item. When he learns that independent research has discovered a considerable presence of fecal matter
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
in the meat, he travels to the fictitious town of Cody, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
to determine if the local Uni-Globe meatpacking processing plant, Mickey's main meat supplier, is guilty of sloppy production. Don's tour shows him only the pristine work areas and most efficient procedures, assuring him that everything the company produces is immaculate.
Suspicious of the facade he's been shown, Don meets up with rancher Rudy Martin (Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
), who used to supply cattle to the Uni-Globe plant. Rudy and his Chicana housekeeper (Raquel Gavia) both assure him that because of the plant's production level, several safety regulations are ignored or worked against; workers have no time to make sure that the manure coming from the intestines stays away from the meat. Don later meets up with Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
), executive VP of Mickey's, who admits being well aware of the issue, but is not concerned.
Amber (Ashley Johnson
Ashley Johnson
Ashley Suzanne Johnson is an American actress, best known for her two-season role as Chrissy Seaver in the TV show Growing Pains, and for her voice work in television series such as Teen Titans and Ben 10 Alien Force....
) is a young, upbeat employee of Mickey's, studying for college and living with her mother Cindy (Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
). While her life seems to be set, she continually faces the contrast between her current career and her own ambition, emphasized by her two lazy co-workers (Paul Dano
Paul Dano
Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
and Matt Hensarling) who, having heard of various armed robberies against fast food restaurants in the area, start planning their own.
Amber and Cindy are visited by Cindy's brother Pete (Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
), who encourages Amber to leave town and start a real career. Amber eventually meets a group of young activists (Aaron Himelstein
Aaron Himelstein
Aaron Himelstein is an American actor who is perhaps best known for playing a younger version of Austin Powers in Austin Powers in Goldmember and Friedman, Luke Girardi's best friend, in Joan of Arcadia...
, Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
, and Lou Taylor Pucci
Lou Taylor Pucci
Lou Taylor Pucci is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's well received Personal Velocity: Three Portraits in 2002....
) who plan to liberate cattle from Uni-Globe as their first act of rebellion. They proceed to sneak up to a holding pen at the plant, but after breaking down the fence, they are shocked that the cattle make no attempt to leave. Upon hearing the police, they retreat and contemplate why the cattle decided to stay in confinement.
Raul (Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny.-Early life:Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of...
), his love interest Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno
Catalina Sandino Moreno
Catalina Sandino Moreno is a Colombian actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Maria Full of Grace .-Life and career:...
) and Sylvia's sister Coco (Ana Claudia Talancón
Ana Claudia Talancón
Ana Claudia Talancón is a Mexican actress and model. She first started acting in her home town, Cancún, Quintana Roo.- Early life :...
) are illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, trying to make it in Colorado. They all go to Uni-Globe in hopes of finding a job - Raul becomes a cleaner, while Coco works on a meat processing conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
. Sylvia, however, cannot take the environment, and instead finds a (less lucrative) job as a hotel maid. The inhumane working conditions quickly become apparent - Coco develops a drug habit, and begins an affair with her exploitative superior, Mike (Bobby Cannavale
Bobby Cannavale
Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...
).
Events take a tragic turn, when during a work accident, a friend of Raul's falls in a machine and gets his leg mangled. Raul, attempting to save him, falls and is injured. Sylvia, rushing to the hospital, is faced with the claim that Raul was also high on amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
s at work. Because Raul is now unable to work, Sylvia has sex with Mike in an attempt to find a job at Uni-Globe. Sylvia ends up working on the "kill floor."
Cast
- Greg KinnearGreg KinnearGregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
as Don Anderson - Wilmer ValderramaWilmer ValderramaWilmer Eduardo Valderrama is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny.-Early life:Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of...
as Raul - Bobby CannavaleBobby CannavaleRobert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...
as Mike - Catalina Sandino MorenoCatalina Sandino MorenoCatalina Sandino Moreno is a Colombian actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Maria Full of Grace .-Life and career:...
as Sylvia - Bruce WillisBruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
as Harry Rydell - Kris KristoffersonKris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
as Rudy Martin - Ashley JohnsonAshley JohnsonAshley Suzanne Johnson is an American actress, best known for her two-season role as Chrissy Seaver in the TV show Growing Pains, and for her voice work in television series such as Teen Titans and Ben 10 Alien Force....
as Amber - Patricia ArquettePatricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
as Cindy - Ethan HawkeEthan HawkeEthan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
as Pete - Paul DanoPaul DanoPaul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
as Brian - Aaron HimelsteinAaron HimelsteinAaron Himelstein is an American actor who is perhaps best known for playing a younger version of Austin Powers in Austin Powers in Goldmember and Friedman, Luke Girardi's best friend, in Joan of Arcadia...
as Andrew - Ana Claudia TalancónAna Claudia TalancónAna Claudia Talancón is a Mexican actress and model. She first started acting in her home town, Cancún, Quintana Roo.- Early life :...
as Coco - Luis GuzmánLuis GuzmánLuis Guzmán is an actor from Puerto Rico. He is known for his character work. For much of his career, he has played roles largely as sidekicks, thugs, or policemen....
as Benny - Avril LavigneAvril LavigneAvril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
as Alice - Lou Taylor PucciLou Taylor PucciLou Taylor Pucci is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's well received Personal Velocity: Three Portraits in 2002....
as Paco
Production
The film was shot on location in AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, as well as in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The meat packing plant was in Mexico as well.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews. As of September 7, 2009, film review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
indicates that the film has an approval rating of 51%, based on 136 reviews (70 "Fresh"; 66 "Rotten"), with an average score of 5.7/10.
A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said the film, "while it does not shy away from making arguments and advancing a clear point of view, is far too rich and complicated to be understood as a simple, high-minded polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
. It is didactic
Didacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
, yes, but it's also dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
al. While the climactic images of slaughter and butchery — filmed in an actual abattoir — may seem intended to spoil your appetite, Mr. Linklater and Mr. Schlosser have really undertaken a much deeper and more comprehensive critique of contemporary American life ... The movie does not neglect the mute, helpless suffering of the cows, but it also acknowledges the status anxiety of the managerial class, the aspirations of the working poor (legal and otherwise) and the frustrations of the dreaming young. It's a mirror and a portrait, and a movie as necessary and nourishing as your next meal."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
awarded the film three out of four stars and added, "It's less an expose of junk-food culture than a human drama, sprinkled with sly, provoking wit, about how that culture defines how we live ... The film is brimming with grand ambitions but trips on many of them as some characters aren't given enough screen time to register and others vanish just when you want to learn more about them."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
felt "for all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie. It doesn't hold together or grip you the way a documentary might have. The people are sketchily drawn - just when you start to care about one of them, he or she vanishes. To get the consumer-beware message across, much of the dialogue sounds like preaching, an unnatural way to talk in what's billed as entertainment ... But it does get its message across. You're unlikely to leave the theater with a hankering for a fast food patty of any size."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote, "Richard Linklater's rough-hewn tapestry of assorted lives that feed off of and into the American meat industry is both rangy and mangy; it remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper ... In the end, viewers waiting for an emotional and/or dramatic payoff will be disappointed. As a call-to-arms, it's highly sympathetic but surprisingly mild-mannered."
Release
The film premiered In Competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
on May 19. It went into limited release in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on October 26, 2006.
Box office
The film opened on 321 screens in the US on November 17, 2006 and earned $410,804 in its opening weekend. It eventually grossed $1,005,539 in the US and $1,203,783 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $2,209,322.Home media
The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released on March 6, 2007 and grossed $6.44 million in rentals in its first seven weeks.
Awards and nominations
Richard LinklaterRichard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
was nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Imagen Foundation
Imagen Foundation
The Imagen Awards are administered by the Imagen Foundation, an organization dedicated to "encouraging and recognizing the positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry"....
nominated Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny.-Early life:Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of...
Best Actor in Film.