The Founder Review

Some aspects of history are often overlooked and while I knew little about the story of McDonald's before, this movie was a perfect look at how this American fast food empire was built. The movie fables the story of how one man took a simple burger joint and turned it into an iconic nationwide chain.

Following Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc he perfectly captures this role of a man that's tried many things in life and through persistence finds something that he just knows will succeed. This has him deal with the original McDonald's owners Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch) McDonald. The two live a simple life with a booming local burger place, but Ray has his sights set much larger.

Through great study and learning of how things flow so efficiently within Ray persuades them to allow him to franchise it. Things go somewhat well as the goal is to keep the owners happy with having standards kept while also making money to thrive. The group ultimately has many issues the film explores the many years it took for this empire to be built. I did feel like some aspects were cut over, but generally it covered the story well.

The acting was great from Keaton absolutely killing it as someone that wanted to win and I also liked the softer side of things presented by Offerman and Lynch. This was a beautiful time piece that perfectly captured that golden time with classy aspects, gorgeous sets and shining golden arches.

Each aspect of it looked great and I appreciate them bringing that setting to life as it seemed like such an interesting time in history. The story was also not only fascinating, but compelling as well offering something for those that don't just want a straight up documentary. It seemed to touch all the important aspects of what happened, but I did feel some of the side stories were just left with a quick wrap-up at the end.

The Conclusion

I really enjoyed The Founder finding it be a perfect balance of history and exciting story that should fascinate anyone that's eaten at the establishment. There's certainly a lot to the story and it was great to see how Ray was able to find his way around things to make sure that it did become an American sensation.

It perfectly captured the time very well offering full scenes of how the McDonald's restaurants changed along with what changed within them. The acting was solid though Keaton as with recent performances kills it here as The Founder of McDonalds.

The Founder Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening Provided by Elevation Pictures

Rating Overall: 8.0