Joe Cross follows in the footsteps of Morgan Spurlock by taking on an incredible dietary challenge for a documentary. He will only consume juice from raw vegetables and fruit for sixty days. Joe believes he needs to make a change in his life. He has a rare skin disorder that causes his body to react as if he’s being attacked by mosquitoes from the slightest touch, he’s significantly overweight, and he’s fed up.
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is half of an interesting film. Joe Cross is a very charismatic figure. Much of the running time of the film is him interacting with random people in America about their diets. He talks to fat people and thin people of all ages asking about their lifestyle choices. Cross has this effortless aura about him that gets people to open up about the darkest culinary secrets. He’ll laugh with them when they admit they only eat fast food or commiserate when they discuss their serious medical problems. This part of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead could have made a great documentary.
That is not Joe Cross’ agenda. Cross wants everyone to try juice fasting for at least 10 days. He travels across America, handing out free-samples and juicing through some kind of power hook-up in the back of his rental car. He has one nutritionist pop up throughout the first half of the film explaining the various nutritional benefits of raw fruits and vegetables. She does not, however, say people should consider substituting solid meals for an all juice diet.
This is part of my problem with Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Joe Cross does not claim to have any medical authority. His doctor told him he needed to lose weight, so he somehow got the idea to try a long-term juice fast. His doctor only agreed to this plan if he went for biweekly check-ups to make sure he wasn’t hurting himself. But I don’t know if the other people Cross pitched this juice fast to knew to get their doctor’s permission.
If Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead was a forty-five minute documentary short, it might be a great character study; it’s not. It’s a ninety minute feature that splits its focus in half. The first half follows Joe Cross on his juice fast scheme as he educates about his own condition and the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables. The second half follows a truck driver who Joe randomly meets at a rest stop. This man is morbidly obese and happens to have the same skin condition as Cross. He agrees to follow the juice fast.
The problem with this structure is that the second half of the film plays as a particularly schmaltzy episode of The Biggest Loser. The trucker gets weighed and measured. He’s told the risks of his lifetime of bad eating habits. Then he’s put on a nebulous and barely explained diet program that miraculously takes a ton of weight off his body in a very quick period of time. It’s just that after experiencing forty-five minutes of charming Joe, this guy comes across as very low-key and a little boring.
This is the risk with a documentary pushing an agenda like this. People wind up judging the civilians in the film as almost celebrity-figures. If they’re actually in need of help, it can come across as exploitative or manipulative to use them in a film. If they seem fake (like the woman who agrees to a ten day juice fast), they look like the paid actors on an infomercial. The credibility of a documentary depends on the credibility of the speakers. If civilians come across like pawns, the whole film is weakened.
Rating: 3/10
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is available to stream on Netflix Instant. Will you watch it?
Robert, do you need a hug? I read your review but I also watched this film. Your opinion was just terrible. Joe Cross’ agenda was to get well as is many of the others he talked to and many more watching the film….maybe even yours. Guess what? It worked, not only for him but for the others. Why be so critical? He didn’t make this film to purposely offend you or push juice fasting on you. He was simply sharing what helped him and he doesn’t need to be a medical authority to share his experience. The man Phil you referred to in the second half also needed to get well. Joe got him hooked up with everything he needed:a place to get away from any temptations, food, a simple exercise plan, and even gave him demonstrations on how to use the juicer. What part of that was “barely explained” to you? Oh, you wanted the recipes? Phil held up a newspaper with the recipe and plan he was following….and there’s always google if ya want more. I’m sorry you had such a hard time with this film. In my opinion, it was very inspiring to see people helping others without a hidden motive. I also have personal experience with juice fasting. It is refreshing to feel well. Did you watch the film about what happened to the folks (and children) in France that put pesticides on their crops? They got all kinds of fatal illnesses…couldn’t even drink their water. That is more your speed. There’s folks in there that know but just don’t care. Check it out!
Hey workingitout, thanks for sharing your opinion. That’s what’s so great about films. Everyone is going to react differently. I’m sorry that you disagree so vehemently with my review. I evaluated it as a piece of documentary filmmaking and found it lacking. Briefly showing the food go in the juicer is not providing expert opinions on why this combination of fruits/vegetables, this period of time, and this fasting approach in general are safe for anyone. I did not watch the film to evaluate his plan through Google. That would be unfair to someone who just wants to see the film as a standalone vehicle. This was a promotional tool for his diet/exercise plan sold as a documentary that will be viewed, in isolation, from the plan.
Wow Robert, I kind of feel like we watched two different films. I found Joe to be very entertaining, fun and inspiring. I can not see any hidden agenda. Phil is certainly no actor, but seemed as real as he could be. If anything he inspired me even more than Joe. I think the film was great and I am not sure what more he could tell you than that he drank fresh fruit and vegetable juice and got healthy doing so. He could have given the exact recipes on the documentary but it would have been a little weird. By the way there are free recipes on his web sight, (part of his hidden agenda). I hope he does write a book that will inspire others to get healthy. BTW I watched the film last night and bought a juicer on my lunch break today.
Rob, I’ll say what I said to the poster before you. If it’s just a promotional tool for his diet plan, it shouldn’t be a documentary. If it’s a documentary, then it needs to be evaluated as such. I shouldn’t have to go research his claims to find out if he’s making everything up or scientifically accurate.
Wow, Rob, you couldn’t have emphasized the point Robert was making with the review any better.
“I can not see any hidden agenda.”
“BTW I watched the film last night and bought a juicer on my lunch break today.”
The point of the movie was to sell juicers. You bought one.
Hey Robert, I liked the film myself and can accept that you may have had a different experience but Joe does mention a couple of times that you should check with your doctor before doing this particular “re-boot” as he describes it. Even Phil gets a complete evaluation from his Doctor before he begins and you see at least two follow up visits during the film. Even at the end of the film when giving updates on on everyone it tells you to first see your Docotor before starting on the plan. Not sure how you missed this. Also, of course Joe is more charasmatic, he is really into what he is doing and wants to get his message across. This does make Phil look a little pale in comparison but I found Phil to be “real”, not an actor. He seemed like most regular people in any documentary.
I loved the film and was inspired. I’m 33 years old and weighed 234 lbs.
After watching Phil lose all his weight I decided to give it a try. I’m now on day 7 and have lost 19lbs. I’m now down to 215 and feel like I’m 20 again.
Greatest thing I ever did.
My initial reaction to the film was to feel inspired and want to run out and buy a juicer. However, I had to keep in mind that I always feel really crummy when I try to eat vegan (and am soooo tired!); that the real science is actually behind a low carb diet (Watch “Fathead” for the other side); that I know that if I were really hungry for a cheeseburger and ate an apple instead I would feel not only deprived but physically ill and lightheaded; that it is not possible to maintain this as a lifestyle (that Joe Cross says he has to continue to “reboot” every three months or so for two weeks shows to what extremes one must go to continue to maintain results); and I’m more than a little wary about the conflict of interest: Joe Cross’s company manufactures Breville juicers.
Can’t deny the wonderful impact the juice fast had on the two men in the show, but as a documentary, I have to agree with Robert. There are no objective reasons given to support the juice fast over say, a different but more sustainable diet. We are supposed to buy into the methodology based on the emotional appeal of the story aside from any hard facts.
Gracie, thanks for confirming my suspicions. I watched the movie last night. It wasn’t until this morning when it occurred to me that the charming Australian business man in the movie might actually be on a promotional tour.
Hi Robert,
I think you bring a very interesting perspective regarding this film. I’ve watched it twice this weekend and will be watching it again. I enjoy it when someone has a different viewpoint because it makes me re-evaluate my own. Sometimes I change my mind. Sometimes I don’t. In this case, I didn’t. But I do appreciate your comments making me stop and think.
I began watching this because I thought it was about someone losing weight. I was stunned when he mentioned his autoimmune disease and the hopeless prognosis and complete lack of knowledge from the medical community. I have a very similar autoimmune disease that no one understands, no root cause, no real treatment, no known cure. So my perspective changed from wanting to learn his method of losing weight, to seeing if he managed to control this health issue without relying on the typical method of shoveling pills with even worse side effects down his throat.
I found this documentary to really be a documentary with a bonus at the end. Just when I thought it was at an end, the phone call from Phil had my heart in my throat. There was so much sadness and pain in his voice when he asked for help, I instantly connected with him. I thought he WAS charismatic. The joy he felt when he spoke to the couple who wanted to learn more about the program he was doing, the fact that he wanted to share his new health and sense of self-esteem with others in his family and in his community. I find him equally if not more inspiring then Joe himself.
I think the trouble with the woman who was introduced to juicing in an effort to address her migraine issues, was that we didn’t really get to know her. I didn’t feel a connection because there wasn’t enough of a focus on who she was as a person. She seemed a bit random and she didn’t seem to have a connection with Joe. But that may be due to the editing room.
And yes, if this was simply the best infomercial ever penned, well it hit its mark. I ordered a juicer (because they are all sold out in the stores) and I am eager to see if perhaps this lifestyle cannot only help me shed a few pounds, but perhaps it can help me reboot my autoimmune system as well. And through the goodness of nature, allow my body to heal itself.
A fabulous companion to this film is Food Inc. – watch this one and it will blow your mind.
Thanks for such a thought-provoking review.
Thanks for all the interesting comments. I came to this sight to determine if it was any good. I haven’t seen it but absolutely will!
Come on guys….Reboot(starting the rest of your life in a different direction. healthy ! Personally I could care less about alterior motives or film critiques. All this man is saying is eat healthy and exercise…..any of you (Robert) have a better idea that will affect how we think about the commen killer of obesity ?
I watched the 2nd half of this “movie’ last night on FTA tv. It was mildly interesting but no more so than an ep of Biggest Loser et al. I found Joe to be rather loud and over-bearing. Similarly to the author of this review I thought that the intricacies and facts behind the juice program almost non-existant ( although as I said I did miss the first half). In the end it just felt like a very long promo for Joes juice idea.