The Founder (2017)
The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Memorable, crazy movie
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Michael Keaton is always watchable and does a great job with the material here. However, from what I have read, the film plays fast and loose with the truth. Kroc is shown as ripping off the brothers, but they were apparently very happy with the buyout deal. It's an odd film - very well made, but not really properly engaging. And poor old Laura Dern gets almost nothing to work with. Difficult to recommend, but also difficult to dismiss.
Not often does a film protagonist change for the worst, but here the lead character becomes less likeable as the feature progresses - alienating the audience just as he alienates almost everyone else close to him. 'The Founder (2017)' is a well-made, entertaining flick that sheds light on a tragic, frustrating story and makes me simultaneously want to eat a McDonalds but also boycott it due to its rampant commercialism along with it's fraudulent history. It's surprisingly compelling stuff, considering it could have simply played out as an advert for the fast food giant. Choosing the perspective it did was close to genius and makes for an incredibly interesting incarnation of this story. 7/10
I am not completely convinced by this character. He steals the McDonald brothers' original idea, but was it a good idea? Meaning he should have stolen a better idea. Anyway, when they meet for the first time (around 1954, isn't it?) they drive a brand new car. At the end of the film, that is around ten years later,we can see the same car in the parking lot, almost at the same place. This is strange.
This is an inspiring tidbit of insight into the beginnings of McDonald's and the making of millionaires. I understand that the "founder" is portrayed poorly, but he gave ultimate capability to a growing brand, its franchises, and made its original founders each millionaires even though they took active measures to attempt to restrict the company's growth. They don't deserve any sympathy for being an impediment, especially so after becoming wealthy men. I'm happy for them, but this piece seems to set a tone where I'm supposed to feel bad for them. They took rewards even after taking said steps to impede the construction of what would yield said reward.It gives us a taste of business which I believe may be able to give today's youth or those who aren't savvy in business (yet) an idea of what a semi-hostile takeover can look like.