"If I Saw A Competitor Drowning, I'd Shove A Hose Down His Throat..."
Whilst not a huge fan of McDonald's selection of economically priced fast-food personally, with it tending to come out quicker than it seems to have gone in, a film regarding its' elusive early success isn't something I would immediately choose to lap up either, with the most strikingly interesting movie depiction of the multi-billion fast-food franchise being Super Size Me, a documentary which put off everyone who saw it from ever buying a McDonald's again. However, with a leading man in the form of the modern incarnation of Michael Keaton, a man whose career is most definitely at the peak of its' powers after successful turns in both Birdman and the superb Spotlight, both of which picked up Oscar wins for Best Picture, as well as Saving Mr. Banks director John Lee Hancock in the armchair, The Founder is a surprisingly enjoyable comedic drama which utilises the abilities of Keaton in the leading role to the extreme, adding a much deeper and interesting level to a movie of which's narrative doesn't exactly have the same stopping or selling power as the man in which the movie attempts to portray.
Whilst not privy to the history of McDonald's in any format at all on a personal level, the titular "founder" of the fast-food giants at the heart of the film is a character many cine-literate audiences may have seen many times before, one which has featured in the likes of Wall Street and more recently The Wolf of Wall Street, with Keaton's magnetic portrayal of Ray Kroc being one of greed-inflicted determination, resembling fictional portrayals of similarly hateful white-collar figures including Jordan Belfort in Scorsese's three hour orgy of vomit-inducing sleaziness. Whilst Keaton's Kroc doesn't hit the the heavy heights of hatred which others before him have mustered, The Founder doesn't exactly adhere to a strictly balanced POV in terms of the historical elements of the company either, settling for a portrayal of a character which is seeped in shady sliminess. Whilst the movie does feel anti-climactic at times, Keaton manages to worm his way into holding the movie together in a fashion better than my stomach manages to hold a Big Mac on a cold Saturday evening.
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