Films > Film Reviews
The Founder
27/02/17
I don't often sit down to movies that start with the 'based on a true story' legend. I usually want my stories to whisk me away to distant galaxies, imaginary futures, or absurd alternate realities. Still, I found myself drawn to The Founder mostly because I discovered Nick Offerman was starring in it. If, at the age of 47, I'm allowed to have a role model, then let it be he. Calm of temperament, resplendent of wit and full of beard yet passionate and appreciative of the world that he inhabits, Nick's portrayal of long suffering council director Ron Swanson in American comedy series Parks and Recreation is part of one of the greatest TV ensemble pieces in recent years. He finds himself in a comparable role here, in The Founder as the stoic, moral, calculated and at times humorous half of the ultimately somewhat naive McDonald brothers duo.
The Founder is headed by Michael Keaton in the titular role of Ray Kroc, and tells the real story of the growth of the McDonalds fast food chain from one San Bernadino post-drive-in restuarant in the mid-50s, to the global, real estate owning behemoth that it is today. Keaton plays a man at times possessed. Driven by so much more than the values of the era, Keaton goes from on the dulled-edge of a knife mixer salesman to self assured golden arches business monarch in a efficient 120 minutes.
There's a subtlety at work in the film-making of The Founder that is both a strength and a weakness .The set design is immaculate yet not flourished, and a wholly bland, unforgettable score adds nothing to the menu. Intelligent repeating themes and elements are used to enforce the escalating narrative of the relationship between Kroc and the McDonald Brothers, and a really smart, simple phone call scene confirms a suspicion we as a viewer have that extra ingredients are certainly on the table for one or two of the characters. A glorious ‘kitchen building’ montage allows Offerman to take control for the briefest of times, and it’s these moments where the movie cooks.
The Founder does a great job of keeping your feelings ambiguous towards Kroc and his ambitions and machinations as he seeks to build an empire on beef patties and powdered milkshakes. It celebrates his successes, but at the same time leaves you in no doubt about the people he had to bump out of the way to move around his own speedy service kitchen.
Indeed, the final scene, a neat bookend to Keaton's opening, desperate sales pitch direct to camera, may well even suggest that Kroc felt pangs of regret about the way he went about things. The brief glance at his own reflection as he practices a speech to be given in the company of Ronald Reagan may be more telling than any of the double-dealing, lawyer signing, and handshake agreements ever could be.