Profits mushroom at Mickey’s, a McDonald’s rival whose president has one concern: reports of fecal matter in the fat-laden beef patties. Solution: Send marketing vice president Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear) to Cody, Colo., to investigate. Mickey’s has 100,000 cows grazing near its Cody slaughterhouse of choice, a Uniglobe meat-packing plant that employs scores of illegal Mexican immigrants. Unlike the lightly comic documentary “Super Size Me,” Richard Linklater’s “Fast Food Nation” is a serious narrative drama that entwines the lives of several people linked by Mickey’s. Don gets the lowdown on cow manure and contamination from rancher Rudy (Kris Kristofferson) and a shaking by the shoulders from cattle supplier Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis), who’s indifferent to the health risks. “Just cook it,” Harry says, munching on Mickey’s main cash cow, the Big One. Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with the book’s author, Eric Schlosser, tells his story in a relatively straightforward manner, but makes odd choices. The first half favors Don’s low-key investigation, a la “Erin Brockovich” and “A Civil Action,” but with more incredulity than ideals. He may be a family man, but he’s also a corporate guy. Fair enough. The balance gives him veracity as a character. We meet from the outset illegals such as Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno), her husband, Raul (Wilmer Valderrama), and her sister, Coco (Ann Claudia Talancon). Whereas Don all but vanishes from the later part of the film, the Mexican story takes over as if to emphasize that the plant’s potential whistle blowers are neutralized by fear of job loss and deportation. They keep quiet about everything from the rats to the fat. Even worse for the women, they’re groped, bedded and bullied by drug-distributing supervisor Mike (Bobby Cannavale). Amber (Ashley Johnson), a pert, efficient cashier at Mickey’s, works alongside doofus cooks who are planning an in-house robbery and meets with incredibly naive students who hope to liberate the livestock by cutting a hole in the fence and saying, “Shoo. You’re free.” The filmmakers have moments. A patty falls on Mickey’s kitchen floor• Just cook it. A visit to the slaughterhouse• Hang onto your lunch because you won’t be spared much. A whole episode involving Amber’s Uncle Pete (Ethan Hawke) isn’t worth a minute of the time it consumes; we already know she’s impressionable and idealistic. “Fast Food Nation” most efficiently makes its points by showing at least as much as it tells. It opts finally to take the hard way out – not with a redemptive super hero but with plausible capitulation. “Erin Brockovich” sent everyone home confident they could sleep well because a vigilant Julia Roberts is on the job. “Fast Food Nation” lobs a canon at the gut cynically but with a keener sense of reality.

In wide release.

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‘Fast Food Nation’Rated R for disturbing images, strong sexuality, language and drug content;

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