Publications
Partners
What it's about:
Directed by John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks), The Founder features the true story of how Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), a struggling 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.
What we thought:
I never thought I needed a movie about McDonald’s. But here it is - a real-life biographical drama about America’s fast food giant and its humble beginnings.
I knew very little about the history of McDonald’s and its influence on the birth of the fast food industry as we know it today.
The film starts out with the very wholesome story of how two brothers, Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman), revolutionised the way fast food was produced back in the 1950s.
Although the brothers opened the very first McDonald’s store and dreamed up the concept of its golden arches, they have very little to do with the global phenomenon that is the fast food chain today.
Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) literally walked in and stole the idea right from under the McDonald brothers and left them hanging – in the worst way possible.
Yes, the back story of your favourite takeout is a lot more sinister and dark than you ever could have imagined.
This real-life story of backstabbing and betrayal, dishes up a villain that no Hollywood heavyweight could possibly resist. Kroc’s multi-billion dollar empire was built on someone else’s dream and it makes for a thrilling cinematic experience.
Sometimes truth is even better than fiction and The Founder effortlessly taps into that. The film feels well-rounded, neatly put together and is definitely worth watching.
Keaton in the role of Kroc is a delight from start to finish. His transformation from good guy to bad guy happens so gradually that you find yourself struggling picking sides until the very end.
Yes, The Founder is a film about a hamburger joint but it’s actually much more than that. It’s got more heart and soul than the plastic fast food giant will ever have.
