invisibleunicornninja
My grandma loves this movie and made me watch it. The movie is poorly put together, and the main guys are annoying. It's not very informative and uninteresting. I will say though that it is indeed inspirational and helped my grandma lose weight.
juneebuggy
Great documentary in the style of "Super Size Me." I could have done with less of the cheesy animation but other than that, well done. It definitely made me want to go out and buy a juicer and take a closer look at what I'm eating even though I don't need to lose any weight.Australian Joe Cross is likable enough as we follow him on his 60 day cross America road trip and juice fast. He's trying to get off the meds, lose weight and get healthy again. Healing himself from the inside out. Along the way he meets and talks to random people.Where this really gets interesting is in the second half when we meet Phil, an obese truck driver who hits his bottom (or top weight) and phones Joe for help. We then follow him through his first weeks of a new lifestyle of exercise and juicing and you can't help but cheer him along. The mindset in America regarding food is kinda horrifying.
Cosmoeticadotcom
On the surface, the film almost seems like an infomercial, as for its first half it follows Cross on a trek to America, to go on a 60 day juice fast. That is, the fortysomething Cross, who weighed in at over 300 pounds, at the start of the documentary, decides to end his years of dependency on steroids and medicines, to treat an autoimmune deficiency, as well as his high-flying lifestyle, so that he can get and stay healthy. He sees a doctor, gets an OK to begin his change in diet, then spends the first month in New York City, before heading out on a cross-country trek to spread his gospel of juicing fruits and vegetables for their easily digested vitamin and nutrient content. The film then follows the lives of a few people Cross encounters, gets the typical man in the street condescension, as well as a few converts, until, at about midpoint, Cross encounters a truck driver, in Arizona, named Phil Staples, who dwarfs Cross's weight, and checks in at over 400 pounds.When Cross's fast ends, and he is almost a hundred pounds lighter, he heads back down under until, a few months later, he gets a call from Staples, desperate to change his life, who asks Joe for the help he offered when they met. The second half of the film thus becomes Staples' even longer journey to health, and the film follows him for almost a year, as he loses weight, gains local celebrity, and nurses his older brother, Barry (also obese), into a healthy lifestyle after he suffers a heart attack.The film gets its message across well, and never comes off as preachy. Cross seems genuine in his mission, and even has his own website dedicated to the cause. The lone negative in the film is the really bad animation that is repeatedly used, for any other critiques of the film would center on what it is obviously not, instead of what it is: a well made biography of two men and their struggles with eating and health.
David O'Brien
What started out as an easy going documentary about a juice diet, ends up being something altogether more profound and life affirming. We meet Joe Cross, a very likable Aussie who travels to the States, the home of junk food, to start a juice only diet, with a juicer hooked up to his car battery and a vast array of fruit and veg. He decides to hang around outside some of the fast food places he used to frequent. He also interviews people he meets about their diets or lack of them and their anticipated life expectancies. Most of the results are shocking. Most of the overweight people don't think they have the willpower to change, and in some cases are accepting that they will die in their 50s. Joe sticks with his diet for 60 days, and he manages to lose a lot of weight. The film becomes more profound when he meets Phil Staples, a truck driver with even bigger weight issues than Joe. He reaches out and asks Joe for help. The results are staggering. Joe's weight loss is excellent, but Phil's eventual weight loss is even more spectacular. Phil becomes an advocate for the juice diet and turns his life around 360. Overall this film is life affirming and touching. It espouses the benefits of a simpler diet, and is a celebration of life rather than a sermon. It's worth watching. Not sure I would be brave enough to try that diet though. Maybe when I hit 400 pounds !
