As documentary stunts go, King Corn is an awfully good one. Here we have a couple of pals who decide to take a hard look at the U.S.'s biggest, most famous agricultural product: Corn.

The stunt is to lease an acre of land in the heartland, plant and harvest it, sell the crop, and see where it goes from there. Along the way we learn a ton about corn farming, from the pathetic economics of farming (our boys even get a two-digit subsidy from the government in order to help them out), to the genetic tricks that have made corn grow to such amazing yields... and to such rotten flavor and texture. With modern equipment, planting that acre of land takes about 20 minutes. And then comes the harvest...

Mountains and mountains of corn kernels surround our heroes. There's simply not enough room in the local grain elevator for it all, so it piles up outside until someone needs it. And no, it isn't going to end up in your Jolly Green Giant freezer bag. This corn tastes like crap. The vast majority of it is headed to two places: animal feed lots (where, over time, it would kill the animals if they weren't slaughtered before then) and corn syrup factories. The filmmakers follow the trial to both of these destinations, and even make their own corn syrup from scratch. It doesn't seem to taste much better than the corn.

And so it goes, as we find out how agrarian America has gone from family farms to a world where no farmer can actually eat any of his own crop, and it's all told in a breezy, informational, and really fun style. Someone pass the Fritos!

The DVD includes deleted scenes and several making-of featurettes.



It's what's not for dinner.