Bewitched

Director Franny Armstrong is less savvy than Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock, yet she makes some good choices. Chief among them: an extensive interview with Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, who credibly compares eating fast food to smoking (its impact on the health care system is delayed, and it's a doozy). He also cites the company's Orwellian training manual, which stresses "uniformity, conformity, and control." Armstrong supplies some much-needed dark humor by talking with Geoff Giuliano, who played Ronald McDonald in numerous television ads. With bitter remorse, Giuliano, now a vegetarian, compares his work to Nazi propaganda. Ouch.

What doesn't work in McLibel is similar to what flops in the pamphlet. Both lapse at times into propaganda themselves— perhaps a forgivable flaw, considering whom they're up against. Still, when Morris recites his court argument about McDonald's role in rain-forest destruction, we get footage of . . . trees being bulldozed. The opening sequence is an ill-advised Star Wars parody, and the "dramatic re-creations" of certain moments in court are staggeringly hokey.

Melissa Moseley

Kidman's Bewitched script doesn't explain why she's so innocent for a witch.

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Yet Morris and Steel are compelling figures, and by profiling them over 15 years, McLibel convincingly argues the merits of committed activism. Think about it: Two working-class Brits took on one of the richest, most powerful multinationals on earth, put up a hell of a fight, and made a real difference, reshaping British libel law for the better. You may not share Morris and Steel's brand of ardor, but it's likely to provoke a little of your own. (NR) NEAL SCHINDLER