The Founder (2016) — Movie Review
I caught this movie on cable this very morning and I immediately stopped everything I had been doing up to that point, because I wanted to see that movie for a long time.
There is something inspiring and awe-worthy in biopic movies.
From the very moment of reading ‘’based on real events’’ in the opening credits, I am almost certain that I am up for a treat because I will most probably learn some historical facts related to that story.
This entire time I thought that the lead character actually founded the ever-known franchise called McDonald’s and that his last name must probably be McDonald’s.
At first, you understand the guy’s despair and daily struggles to not just make ends meet, but to thrive in the late 50s to early 60s.
Whether it was a lousy invention of a fast milkshake system or a food-delivery system, the guy couldn’t catch a break.
I understand the message that this movie wants to deliver: Some people have that fire in them, that spark, the everlasting ignition that keeps them going no matter how many roadblocks they encounter along the way… and the message was delivered almost perfectly with its pacing and little things like Ray worrying is he going to have everything mapped out in time, the amount of pickles in one burger, neatness of the facilities…
Eventually, he hits home run and convinces the McDonald’s brothers to partner up with him and everything goes on a downward spiral for them as he little by little overtakes the whole family business.
As I said, at first you feel for the guy, but after some significant amount of time passes, you start to despise him a little bit, and maybe glare at the screen and utter an occasional ‘’that ffing sleazeball, a con artist…’’
The whole story revolves around Ray Kroc and his ups and downs with the McDonald’s business.
Michael Keaton gives us as good of a performance as ever and is in the spotlight the entire time (after all, he is the lead character), but the rest of the cast did a good job too.
Maybe it could’ve been a little bit slower process from a door-to-door beggar to the infamous Founder of McDonald’s. I thought they turned it up a notch into a higher gear and the movie could’ve shown us more details, the nitty-gritty. The whole turnaround was a tad faster than I expected.
All in all, a very insightful and interesting movie, that hits us with a ‘Hard work beats talent every time’’ and a ‘’Survival of the fittest’’ regime more often than not. As the lead character himself said: ‘’Persistence’’ is the key.
