Hard to Swallow

Hungry for Change, a documentary directed by the nutrition consultants James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch, begins with a few unobjectionable observations about weight trends and the difficulty of dieting. Then it becomes a tendentious attack on evil corporations that conspire to make us sick and fat by producing irresistibly delicious food. And then it descends into New Age wackiness.

Watching this movie is like being stuck in an elevator for 89 minutes with an attractive, chatty stranger who seems knowledgeable and interesting until she starts going on about the similarity between sugar and heroin, the "deadly combination" of aspartame and caffeine, and the food-borne toxins accumulating in your fatty tissue. While the production values are far superior to those of a late-night infomercial, the tone is similar, especially when you realize that most of the experts featured in Hungry for Change are hawking books, DVDs, and/or classes to help you break free of those rapacious food profiteers.