Phillip Reviews: The Founder (2016/2017) [SPOILERS]
Phillip873 "The Founder" was released in theaters early this year and late last year on depending locations and it's not talked much about. I saw the movie on Netflix and honestly it was wonderful!Plot synopsis/summary:
The story of Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) a salesman who turned two brothers' innovative fast food eatery, McDonald's, into the biggest restaurant business in the world with a combination of ambition, persistence and ruthlessness.
-Source: IMDb
The Story:
Last warning for SPOILERS!
'The Founder' is based off the true story of a man named Ray Kroc, who turns two brother's revolutionary eatery into a massive franchise, at the same time screwing them over completely! We start off with Mr. Kroc, a salesman trying to sell his machines to dine-ins, but it's proving not very successful. One day he headed out to San Bernardino, California, where he finds a restaurant "McDonalds No.1" and is completely blown away by the fact that it only takes 30 seconds to get your food, whereas this movie takes place around the 50's, with dine-ins that take forever to get your food. I have to say it was pretty funny when the man finds out about how quick the food is served, it's almost unreal. He talks to the two brothers who own the eatery, Dick and Maurice, and he asks to know how it's done. We get an amazing scene where the brother's explain how it works, where they trained their employees by drawing the outline of the restaurant on a tennis court with chalk, and figured out how to be the most efficient. Soon after, Ray wants to franchise the restaurant, but the brother's explain that they already tried, and it didn't work due to the managers not selling/maintaining the restaurants correctly. Eventually he does it for him, and they make a deal to be partners. This whole part of the movie is very well paced and fairly easy to follow/understand, and I commend it for that. As the story progresses, you see Ray get more greedy and unlikable, making the brothers angrier and angrier, though there is nothing they can do about it. Later, Ray becomes a complete ass hole and tries to get rid of the brother's and completely take over McDonalds. He also finds ways to make even more money, such as by using powdered milkshakes instead of ice cream. One of his franchisees, has a wife Ray likes, and later in the movie, he literally leaves his own wife with barely anything and gets with this chick at the end. Like what the hell?! After pissing off the brother's multiple times, Maurice talks to him, and Ray tells him off, saying he worked to get to the top, and could care less of what happened. Maurice has diabetes, and he gets so enraged and stressed he has a heart attack. Instead of Ray realizing what he was doing is wrong, he asks to buy the company from the brother's for over a million dollars, and they have no choice but to take it. During the credits, it says that the brother's went out of business within a few years, because they could no longer be a McDonald's, and changed their name to "Big M". The story was great in this movie because it really evokes anger and hatred for what Ray Kroc did to get to the top out of the viewer. What makes me even angrier is that this story is actually true, it's like a documentary. It's not a bad thing that the movie makes you angry, because this movie is a drama, not a comedy. I thought the movie was also well paced, but it felt slower nearer to the end, but not too bad.
The Characters/Acting:
This movie was casted VERY well! Michael Keaton has been on a roll lately with his performances, and he was just as great in this one. His performance makes you feel sympathetic for him in the beginning, but then he also makes you HATE him by the end. This is an example of great acting. The McDonalds brothers Dick (played by Nick Offerman) and Maurice (played by John Carroll Lynch) both did a wonderful job with their parts too! Their relationship as two brothers trying to run a restaurant seemed very believable due to how they work off of each other. Most of the side characters were fine too, nothing really astounding, but serviceable to the movie. I'm just glad the main characters were this well casted!
Complaints/Any Extra Thoughts:
I mentioned this in the "story" section that the movie has pacing issues. Some of the scenes in this movie did feel kind of 'slow' or dragged out later in the movie, like the scene where Ray is in the fancy restaurant recruiting a franchisee. But most of the film was fine in terms of pacing. Also a couple of the side characters were annoying, like Ray's first franchisees he met at the country club. An extra thought I had is that this movie will most likely make you hate the McDonalds franchise, as this whole movie is based on real events that happened. I didn't like McDonalds in the first place though, so this just reinforced my distaste for this company.
Rating - 9/10 (Wonderful)
Final thoughts/summary: Aside from a couple noticeable issues, "The Founder" is an excellent film that takes a nice approach to the real events of the McDonald's founding. If you like movies based on real events, or maybe dramas, I totally recommend this movie!
Thanks for reading! Have a good day!