Bigger, Stronger, Faster is the name of the fascinating, funny, and endlessly entertaining documentary about the steroid culture in the United States, and specifically in the sports world.  Writer/director Christopher Bell (a likable meathead, a refreshing change from the usual intellectual blowhards of the documentary world) grew up in the 1980s (much like yours truly), and he idolized Sly, Ahnold, and especially Hulk Hogan.  As a kid, Hogan was also my hero.  He was a larger than life flag-waving red-blooded American.  He preached taking your vitamins, saying your prayers (Bell’s Mom notes amusingly that Hogan has never actually discussed God outside the ring) and he always beat the Hell out of the Russian commies and sinister middle eastern baddies.  I loved my 80s action heroes, just like Bell did.  The problem is that Bell discovered that they were all fakes.  They all used steroids, and his film is about his struggle with the pros and cons of steroid use.  Initially, what seems like a pro-roid documentary becomes a fascinating look at a family struggling to survive and a nation so drunk with winning that we only claim to be against steroids, we never follow through with anything other than lame outrage…..then we go back to buying shirts and paying hundreds of dollars for tickets to sporting events. 

Bigger, Stronger, Faster follows writer/director Bell and his two juiced brothers.  Bell’s brothers are both on roids and one of them is a particularly sad case.  “Mad Dog” has an attractive wife and a good-paying job, but he looks at himself as a failure because he is not a famous wrestler with the WWE.  The documentary hints at how the pressures he’s under to succeed mirror the struggles of so many others.  Bell also looks at the gruesome “anti steroid” media circus following the death of Benoit and a clip of a hilarious after-school special starring Ben Affleck.  I remember seeing this.  Affleck (who is a better actor now, but not by much) is a nice guy jock who after taking roids begins slapping around his loyal girlfriend and overacting wildly…..its similar to the anti-marijuana garbage like Reefer Madness.  Lastly, Bell takes us into the hugely profitable “supplement” industry.  Unregulated (thanks, Orin Hatch) junk in the form of powders and pills that are made from garbage and sold at an enormous sum. 

Bigger, Stronger, Faster is a fast-paced and vastly entertaining look at America’s obsession with winning at all costs.  Steroids are bad for you (duh), but the film argues that its simply one of many shortcuts taken to win.  The film is not partisan in the least (Ahnold takes a beating though, for hypocrisy, not for politics) and can be watched by documentary fans and those who still think that documentaries are boring and full of talking heads.  Those days are long gone.

DVD Grade: A-

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