Fast Food Nation

Watched Linklater's latest and I'm at a loss to say whether it really is just a complete mess or am I just angry that he didn't make the movie I wanted to see? My first reaction is that yes, it really is a mess and they should have either stuck with just one aspect of the book rather than trying to weave the multiple stories together. I realize that it is a faithful adaptation of the reporting in the book but what you don't get with the movie is the depth of each of those stories and you just end up confused and frustrated. Any one of the intersecting lines could have made an interesting movie in it's own right, but unfortunately giving each so little time doesn't allow any involvement. It seems just as you are staring to sink into one story, it has to cut away to catch up with the next one. Granted, that web of connections is the entire basis for the movie's concept, the hidden stories of how fast food gets from the farm to the consumer. Upon watching the making of extra, you really get a sense of what they were trying to accomplish and just wish that they could have pulled it off. I might come back to it and see if I have a different opinion later, but so far Linklater is not happening for me. I thought Scanner Darkly was, if not as much a failure, equally frustrating.