TODAY'S PAPER
See your toxic workplace in this smart teen movie
By JOHN DOYLE
Friday, February 28, 2003 - Page R2

The smart, satisfying Fast Food High appears to be aimed at teenagers
but every grownup could benefit from watching it.

Fast Food High is set at a fictional fast-food chain called Patty's,
but anybody watching knows that it could be about any of the major
burger joints. It's about 16-year-old Emma (the excellent Alison
Pill) and her fight to establish a union at Patty's. It's a long and
bitter fight, one that pits her not only against a creepy boss but
against her friends. Sometimes, it seems she's fighting against the
world.

When the movie opens, Emma and her pals are happy enough at Patty's.
It's a relatively easy job, it's not a career for them, and they feel
like they're the cool kids. Then a new owner of the franchise brings
in Dale (Gil Bellows) an oily, manipulative jerk who clearly gets his
kicks from intimidating women. When Dale makes an obnoxiously sexist
remark to Emma, she's galvanized.

At first, Emma's friends think organizing a union is a breeze and
they just want revenge against Dale. But doubts quickly set in. At
one point, Emma's best pal Zoe (Sarah Gadon) reacts furiously against
the dedication and the determination necessary to succeed with the
union drive. "It's dorky, selfish and boring," she snaps. She
says "selfish" because, in her adolescent way, she resents Emma's
grit and perceives it as self-aggrandizing. Mainly, she thinks unions
are dorky and boring.

The union itself isn't much help. An uncaring young organizer is sent
out to talk to the kids and at first he doesn't take them seriously.
Resentful that she's being patronized, Emma keeps plugging away, but
she risks losing her boyfriend and, it seems, the respect of most of
her friends. There is a lot of talk about "losers" and it's only when
Emma understands the working life of other Patty's workers -- the
single mother, the senior citizen -- that her understanding actually
transcends her initial view. She sees that getting a union is not
just about a bunch of kids getting revenge against a creepy boss.

Fast Food High is well written (by Jackie May and Tassie Cameron) and
is astute about the gullibility and shallow greed of teenagers.
Emma's boyfriend Scott (Joe Dinicol) quickly dissociates himself from
Emma's union drive because he is, Lord save us, a "manager-in-
training." He thinks he's been lifted above the proletariat. Things
become even messier when Emma needs his signature and he
misinterprets her presence as an attempt to rekindle their romance.
His hurt rage is more powerful than any of the characters' belief in
trade unionism.

In fact, nobody could accuse Fast Food High of being giddily pro-
union. In an interesting twist, Emma's dad (John Kapelos) works for a
union, but for much of the story here he wants nothing to do with
Emma's fight. He also tends to be an absent, uninvolved parent
because he's always away on union business.

The movie (directed with vigour and assuredness by Nisha Ganatra) is
clearly inspired by real stories about attempts to unionize branches
of McDonald's, but it's also about the toxic dynamics of any
workplace.

Adults who watch will recognize the behavior of the teens. Not
because they merely remember adolescence, but because in many offices
and factories, grownups behave with heightened adolescent self-
interest, snobbery and backbiting.

Maybe both teens and grownups who watch might also recognize why
trade unions exist and why, in the workplace, self-interest is
sometimes a mistake. With luck, anybody watching will realize why our
forefathers and mothers fought hard for the right of workers to
organize and fight for a fair deal.


jdoyle@...