Director: John Lee Handcock Starring: Michael Keaton Studio: The Weinstein Company Genre(s): Drama Rated: PG-13 (For brief strong language) |
One of the most exciting scenes in “The Founder” involve two
men telling a milkshake salesman how their restaurant works. They discuss how they used to be like any
other drive through restaurant. They
offered a variety of items and did everything they were supposed to, but
success was always outside of their grasp.
Then, they had a vision for a new concept called the Speedy
Service. They would do away with the
drive-in model. They would get rid of
plates. 81% of their sales were in
burgers, fries, and Coca-Cola, so they will only sell those items (and
milkshakes, because…who doesn’t want milkshakes?). They will wrap their food in paper and place
it in bags. They will have an assembly
line for their cooks so that food can be made fast and ready to go in thirty
seconds. We watch this scene and find we
are buying into the idea. This sounds
like the greatest invention of all time!
In way, it is, because this little burger shop was called
McDonald’s, and there was a time this system was unique and revolutionary. Now we see it as a stepping stone where
teenagers gain work experience through a low wage paying job, but at one point
in time they were the only ones doing this.
Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) seems to be the only one who recognizes what
they have. A struggling salesman for
years, he lives a comfortable life, but admits to his wife he will probably
never be truly happy unless he is able to put his stamp on the American dream. When he sees McDonald’s, he sees his dreams
becoming reality. With McDonald’s, he
sees America. When selling the McDonald
brothers on the idea of franchising their creation, he says “the Golden Arches
can be as iconic as the American flag and the churches cross.” It seems blasphemous to suggest such a thing…until
you realize that this predication came true.
I remember watching “Super Size Me,” and in one of many
memorable scenes, director Morgan Spurlock shows a variety of pictures to children
and asks them who they are. It was sad
that Jesus wasn’t recognized by a single child but that Ronald McDonald was
recognized by all. Ironically, despite
all I’ve described, “The Founder” is not a movie about the rise of McDonald’s. This is about a man. A man who, by all accounts, was a hard worker
and doing what he could to make money.
He worked hard and deserved a piece of the American dream. The movie is also about how much of a failure
that success made him in his personal life.
Like “Steve Jobs” a couple years before, “The Founder” has no illusions
that Kroc was a good man. It recognizes
early on that he is selfish and manipulative.
But he is a man of honor early on.
He does keep his promises and seems genuinely interested in a real
partnership.
Only when he has a taste of success do the problems come in,
as the McDonald’s brothers find any sort of expansion fine. Kroc doesn’t want to just expand though: he
wants to overthrow. Soon his business
practices are conniving and unethical. At
one point, they even become illegal. But
with a legal system that approves almost countless appeals, the McDonald
brothers have no hope of stopping him.
All of this is anchored by an award worthy performance by Michael
Keaton, who plays Kroc as the SoB he truly is, but likable enough early on that
you can’t help but respect the man until he becomes so deplorable that you
simply no longer can. I think my mom
said it best when she pointed out her biggest disappointment in Kroc was that
he didn’t keep a handshake promise with key characters. The disappointment here isn’t really the fact
that he broke his word and did something wrong.
At this point in the film we would expect nothing less from the man. What it does say though is that not only was he a man without integrity in the end, but as someone who was once in their shoes, he should have known better than to screw hard working American’s who were just trying to get their piece of the American dream. He should have known better than to take credit for ideas he knew he didn’t invent. He should have known better than to deliberately undercut their full potential. He should have known better. After all: he was once one of them himself.
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there is the single use of the f-word that earns the PG-13 rating. Otherwise, the language would be minor enough to warrant a mere PG. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
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