Review of The Founder (2016) by Brandon E — 20 Feb 2017

A common phrase that is uttered by the struggling salesman Ray Kroc is "Which came first the chicken or the egg". A phrase that perfectly foreshadows the history of McDonalds as to how it became a fast food empire. McDonalds as we all know is a symbol of Americana. But few understand how he company has become what it has become.

Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, the struggling salesman who becomes inspired by the McDonald brothers innovative creation. A fast food service that focus on two items, burgers and fries, preparing said items really fast. The film does a good job of showing how fast food was depicted before the big boom. Due to the car craze in the 1950's the popular setup were the car diners. People were served in their car. The history behind the McDonald brothers as they explain it to Kroc is interesting. The issue with the car diner were the long wait, wrong orders and unwanted loitering. They conjured up the idea of reducing the menu, eliminating certain things to prevent loitering and tada McDonald's is born.

The entire film is exciting, kudos for the pacing. I enjoyed seeing how this fast food titan was created. The actors are great. Michael Keaton deserves an Oscar nod for this film. Many people have came out and said that he was a far more worst man than depicted in this film. We could tell as this is the guy who stole McDonald's from the brothers and also many other things. However due to the fact that he is the main character and somewhat the protagonist. Keaton does a great job at making us the audience "understand" his actions rather than making him likeable. We understand why he needed to do what he had to do in order to maintain a living. I'd say during the second act we start to see Kroc get more greedy and I still enjoy watching that character. It's a similar feeling to watching a villian like Gordon Gecko. We enjoy the character for just being devoted to something like greed and will go to any limits.