Review of The Founder (2016) by Timmy M — 20 Jan 2017

I think out of all the underrated indie films I've been catching up to as we start 2017, The Founder is one of those surprisingly rare gems that really knows how to use an expansive secondary cast (like B.

J Novak from the Office, Patrick Wilson, Laura Dern, and Nick Offerman from Parks and Rec. is quite a cast to go by), the main lead by Michael Keaton, and a intriguing premise of the creation of one of the most fastest growing food companies of all time: McDonalds.

And after going to see the film after actually some anticipation, as the director behind it John Hancock previously did 'Saving Mr. Banks' (another biopic of the late Walt Disney creating the idea for Marry Poppins.

) which I thought was decent, what were my thoughts coming out of it? It was honestly pretty great. It was an intriguing slow paced biopic that, as someone who has only small knowledge of the real life counterpart: Ray Kroc (the founder, no pun intended, that created McDonalds to begin with.

), was well executed in presenting a story from both a financial standpoint and historical rise of this company and also elevated HIGHLY from a very enjoyable and fantastic performance by Michael Keaton that shows that the days of Batman are past him and movies like Birdman (and now The Founder) show he's still got enough in him to go great performances, a slow pace that, while does tends to drag at times, is earned and gives enough time for us as an audience to get where our main lead is coming from and what his motivations are, an engaging story that balances tone and intrigue to create a smart and very unbiased re-telling of McDonald's start to fame, and it especially creates a engaging character study for Ray Kroc by creating a complex character arc that shows change and understandable motivation, which leaves his persona at the end of the film for audiences to interpret and not give a ham-fisted biased message.

And while small nitpicks and issues are present in the film like technical problems in the editing and rapid scene change, film takes that aren't synched all the time with the actors, and some cliches thrown in here and there to create drama in the script, The Founder still excels in being a smart biopic film and character study that I would highly recommend to those looking for small films with great leads like Michael Keaton in, and is worth watching to know the rich backstory to the creation of McDonalds.