King Corn: Critic Reviews

Aaron Woolf's we-are-what-we-eat documentary King Corn is a lively introduction to the corn industrial complex.

It should be required viewing before going into a supermarket, McDonald's or your very own refrigerator.

King Corn insists that we recognize the Corn Belt's beauty and intelligence along with its somewhat self-induced plight.

This is as much a thoughtful meditation on the plight of the American farmer as it is a rant against our expanding waistlines.

A breezy diary from a pair of first-time farmers, as well as a wry rebuke to a nation devoted to eating cheaply but not necessarily well, King Corn makes its points without much finger-wagging.

Deftly balances humor and insight.

A deceptively intelligent new entry in the regular-Joe documentary genre.

King Corn is entertaining enough, but it's also a moral, crucially skeptical road trip down the food chain.

We learn a few things from the two daffy guys about food, nutrition, agribusiness, and government support of the latter.

Someone pass the Fritos!

There is an interesting story here. It's just that the movie doesn't tell it very well.

Simultaneously nostalgic and sinister, King Corn mixes full-blown Americana with fast-food follies in the Iowa heartland.

Engaging and illuminating.

The film always teaches and entertains in equal, ample measure. It's a treat -- and it's good for you.

entertaining and even a little mischievous, it finds perverse outcomes, but no villains. It is informative, without creating partisanship, respectful without being patronizing, entertaining without being dumbed-down

While there's no startling news here -- most people know that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a staple in food processing and isn't particularly good for us -- this documentary neatly, and often humorously, summarizes a very unhealthy situation.

King Corn becomes an indispensable supplement to Spurlock's Super Size Me.

Absorbing...it's a lot of science and perspective to cover, yet Woolf manages to keep King Corn focused and sedate.

An entertaining look at the flagship of American empty calories, King Corn is a few bushels short of being the next Super-Size Me, but brings a legitimate message.

Sometimes obvious, but at other times quite startling.

Well, it's certainly one of the less blatantly compelling subjects on the non-fiction circuit, and the doc has a lower-octane approach than most, but King Corn is surprisingly absorbing and amusing viewing.