Michael Keaton's character is a low lying manipulative sack of human shit that deserves to die in the worst possible way. Burger King forever.
Wow, what a blast. This is the kind of biopic i like. Showing all sides and - by most of the time - not judgeing, just showing. Well, maybe there is judging, but not too much.
Michael Keaton plays the Kroc just right.
9/10
What i don't understand: Why does Reviewers judge this movie by the reallife story and not by the movie itself? Of course Kroc did horrible, capitalistic decisions, but you have to say if the movie does it capture right.
Ray Kroc was probably one of the most unlikable characters there were who was leeching of other peoples ideas and screwing them up all over the place. That can be said about many successful businessmen. The only argument one could make that without him McDonalds might never have become what it is. Personally I found him despicable.
So, why watch the movie ? Well it sets the record straight about what happened and how he got to it, because I´m sure many of us probably didn´t know the story. It´s not totally accurate but from my understanding the general outline is about right. The movie is driven by Keaton who makes Kroc the unlikable guy he was in the story. Unfortunately, due to the facts there isn´t a happy end. But that is how it was. The production of the movie is really good, it looks and feels the part and the lenght of the movie is OK.
It isn´t a 100m $ blockbuster movie and you won´t watch it repeatedly because once you know the story there is no point. But it´s a good piece of filmmaking and if you are interested to know how McDonalds came to be you might give it a shot.
It's a awesome sad true story movie, the movie deserves credit for not making all sunshine and rose's, he was a horrible person, that shouldn't have the luck he had, yet he did. Yes he risked everything he had. But he should have honoured the McDonald's brother's.
Great sad movie nonetheless
Here's another great movie that flew under the radar because Hollywood didn't properly promote it.
A fascinating tale and ultimately a sad one. Shed light on something I didn't know about the company and it riled me inside. Worth watching, though it was a little dry in places, so I wasn't lovin' it all the way through. Oh, and I ate a KFC while watching, so screw you Mr Kroc and your capitalist bull****.
Human kind at it's worst..What can i say if this whole thing is true every detail i am dissapointed as hell.Although movie is really good with great directing and storytelling..7.5/10
I'm not sure how accurate this movie is to the reality of the beginnings of McDonalds, and I'd guess it's probably not very accurate at times, but it was an enjoyable story nevertheless. Good performances especially from Keaton. Never an empty scene so a decent drama.
A compelling film that sheds light on a story sadly not uncommon in the business world, though rarely on this grand scale. It serves as a cautionary tale that makes you reconsider supporting large corporations like McDonald's. This thought-provoking narrative challenges our perceptions of success and ethics in the business arena. After watching, you might think twice about where you choose to spend your dining dollars.
Pretty interesting story about the growth of the McDonalds franchise. Keaton is always good in his roles, even if his character in this film is of questionable ethics.
Great movie, really great how they didn't try to make it seem happier and less depressing than it really was.
I'm going to reconsider going to McDonald's though, capitalism sucks, real-time.
This makes me want a refund for all the Macdonalds I have ever eaten. It's disgusting how he stole the business model after the strings of the contract became a burden for his big ego. Some will say that he honored the McDonald brother's, but if he truly wanted to do it, he could at least reward properly the people who have the basis of "his business".
People will say "but that's how business world works", but I say that we shouldn't normalize the poor individual ethics.
After all, that was a good movie and a great storyline, it was written very well.
It's sad how almost everytime, the real creator(s) of a great idea, ends up with nothing. Good movie thou...
Notice the real Roy said at the end of the movie, "I don't like those gimmick type names. Burger this, burger that." reffering to Burger King.
I love Michael Keaton. I really hate what Ray Kroc did! He was a horrible person. I feel sorry for the McDonald brothers. They didn't deserve the mistreatment from Ray Kroc. Ray Kroc is a crock of ...
This movie was a suprise to me, because I haven't heard of it before. Even when you spent 2 or 3 evenings a week at the cinema, there are trailers and movies that you do not find any advertisement for. So when this movie started I did not know what to expect at all.
Only as the movie commenced did I finally get that this must be the story of McDonalds - a story I did not know anything about, so it was pretty interesting. As I am no fan of fastfood, I probably wouldn't have watched it, if I had known about it exsistance, but watching it was great. The story is interestingly told, we have a great cast and we have Michael Keaton who again plays ingeniously good. Even better than the so acclaimed Birdman. I really loved his play, the way he deals with his ups and downs and the turn from being a likeable fellow who you feel for, to turning out to be a person you dispise, yet find somewhat disturbingly understanding in his situation.
Additionally I love the 50s and 60s flair of the setting and the cast is great (Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, B. J. Novak - you cannot go wrong with these guys). I was considering 8/10, especially as it is probably not a movie that you will rewatch often; but taking into account that there was not a single minute in this movie that I wasn't captivated, I think the little more outstanding position is justified.
This is supposed to be a movie to glorify Ray Kroc, "Founder" of McDonald's. All I saw was a bad human being of the first order. But then again, this is just my opinion.
McDonalds is what happens when you take an okay burger joint and compromise, synthesize and homogenize it to the point that all you're left with chemical caricature of what it originally was.
I will never go Mcdonalds.
Michael Keaton's resurrection continues in The Founder. His acting is the best thing about it. The story is fairly interesting for the first half but it starts to lose steam in the back half. I thought that Keaton's character could've used more exploring considering the character really wasn't likeable. The end product could've been much better than this.
I'd give it a 7.3 or so. Good, but not great.
The biggest letdown for me/us was how little we got to see of the McDonald brothers. I realize the film is called The Founder, i.e. Ray Kroc, but the film doesn't show very much of how they handled the process. We only get to see their reactions in the moment, while Ray is on the phone or in the room with them.
Speaking of Ray… My goodness, Ray is an asshole. The man signs a contract, then proceeds to say "the hell with it" and break the thing. He strong-arms the brothers into selling him their operation, getting them out of the picture, then stiffs them on the royalties that "couldn't" be in the contract.
Actually, what possessed the brothers to take the handshake deal anyway? Was it that the only alternative they saw was trying to sue and going bankrupt from lawyers' fees?
But enough about the characters. This is all documented fact that can be looked up and pored over without watching a movie.
Probably the best part of the film was just how well they did the '50s feel. I enjoyed the montages of new McDonald's locations opening, and the flashback to Mac and Dick on the tennis court working out the kitchen layout was a treat. All of the kitchen scenes were great, actually. Perhaps not the most realistic (I've never seen such efficient, well choreographed fast food workers in my life), but it made good cinema.
Production-wise, I might have made a few small changes to the audio edit—a spot or two didn't make sense, like when Ray and Joan finish their piano duet at the restaurant and there's music in the background still that carries into the next scene on the airplane. Other than that, the script focuses a bit too much on Ray (doesn't give anyone else, really, any time to develop), and it does tend to drag. Not sure where it could have been tightened up though. There weren't any irrelevant scenes, so there are no easy cuts.
Hmm. I guess it's worth a watch, but it isn't going to win any awards for keeping you on the edge of your seat.
Michael Keaton steals the scene in this movie as he makes us progressively hate him while the story unfolds. Don't know the accuracy of facts, but it was certainly entertaining. Recommend it.
What a fucking asshole. Never been so pissed since the Social Network. Probably affected my rating as well.
What a fucking asshole. Never been so pissed since the Social Network. Probably affected my rating as well.
8/10
Great movie based on a true story. Loved that they showed both sides of the story and not just one like it is in most biopics.
It’s a sad story, a story about how cruel the world is. Business man and politicians are the worst people on the planet.
And no not all businessman are bad, we have our own company with my family. Yes our main goal is to make profit, but we don’t want to lose our product quality. In the beginning this was also the case for Ray Kroc but when he started growing and growing, his greed for money grew and grew to.
I can find myself in both sides of the story, I get what the brothers wanted and dreamt of. But I also get what Ray wanted and dreamt of. It’s sad how it went down..
It’s crazy how a good business is one of the biggest real estate players in the world.
Never knew the assistant of Ray was the first woman that was allowed onto the stock market.
Mad cast, what a perfect match. Loved the style. Hail Burger King :hamburger:
Saw this in the movie theater on release it was really good. Sad story over all. But you gotta remember that Mcdonald's isn't about the food, it's about the Real Estate! Real Estate is where the money is at! if the Burgers went from $2 to $5 and nothing changed about the burgers people would still buy them probably. The Ice Cream is trash, there Machines basically never work. Taylor the Ice Cream Machines that Mcdonald's has is in a long term crazy contract that has some bad terms in them. Theres no third party repair. and even when there's been attempts to fix the Ice Cream Machines with Third Party repair like not contacting "Taylor" to repair them Taylor I think pulled the card of Threatening to void the warranty with tampering or something crazy like that with these expensive ice cream machines that Taylor charges Exorbitant fees to Mcdonald's to repair their machines when they need to be repaired.
The crazy part is that Wendy's, Burger King other Fast Food that uses Taylor machines doesn't have the same crazy contract or issues that McDonald's has been Pigeon hold into for decades. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uCpY3tFTIA
I have different thoughts on The Founder after a second viewing. I first watched The Founder around the time of its release and I found the story of McDonald's fascinating. I had no idea about its history. I was struck with Michael Keaton's performance. However, on the second viewing the movie lost some of its magic for me. I reckon that is because I enjoyed it for a story I didn't know. Now that I knew the story, I could try to see what was being said and I couldn't find anything meaningful. Michael Keaton is Ray Croc, a man that is pretty terrible, but the movie seems to glorify him because he won. Michael Keaton's performance still holds up but if you know the story of McDonald's already then you won't find anything new in The Founder.
After a solid run of films this year in the "True Corporate" genre (Tetris, Air, BlackBerry), I figured I'd go back and watch one of the earlier entries that I had never gotten around to. Overall, this film didn't disappoint and further confirms my affinity for the genre. Michael Keaton carries the film, from opening sales pitch to final monologue after his transition to cut-throat capitalist. Yes, the arc is familiar, but the execution is strong enough that it doesn't matter. Nick Offerman is also expectedly excellent, feeling right at home in his role as idealist business owner. Overall, a compelling story about the origin of a worldwide cultural phenomenon.
Really solid movie about marketing and business expansion. It's a pretty serious film but it has it's lighter moments and is an easy watch. I really feel like it's a film with two polar halfs. By the end I really grew to despise the main character. He plays the ending as positive with his speech but it's anything but that the way I saw it. Soundtrack and editing were great. Acting was pretty solid, nothing very special but good. Wish I could get a burger for 15 cents today...9/10 rating
This movie is actually very hard to rate. Incredible cast, amazing performances, a thrilling and well-telled history... But they fail miserable when, by presenting the evilest figure of the modern capitalist era they try to review him like some "hard-working proactive person". Like, is ok he stole the product, the name, the idea, the fame, that he decited the founders so he (for himself) could made more money, etc, etc, while we tell the story of how he stole the business out of two hard working geniuses who invested real stuff and got a nice working enterprise, who suffered and stud up again, who almost got one of them dead, but through all the process they revolutionized the industry...
Is hard to stand up and watch how to nice guys perish in front of a two-headed snake with luck and a tone of money while he suits himself like a demigod or a superheroe.
Really nice story, really bad protagonist.
This is a story that I actually didn't know anything about and when I saw the film was about how McDonald's got created I needed to watch it.......Steve Jobs once 'Good artists copy; great artists steal' and never has this applied more than in the story of how McDonald's ended up becoming one of the worlds biggest franchises.
I don't want to spoil too much for people who don't know this story, but the story revolves around Ray Kroc who one day meets the McDonalds brothers and then partners up with them to help create McDonald's as a franchise. Really need to give credit to Michael Keaton (Ray Kroc) who is perfect in this film as his character is a mixture of Steve Jobs and Patrick Bateman, also the supporting cast is great as well with Nick Offerman (Dick McDonald), John Carroll Lynch (Mac McDonald) and Linda Cardellini (Joan Smith) giving great performances.
The only reason I haven't given this film a higher rating is that the pacing can be a little off at times and the film does slow down a bit in between, John Lee Hancock is a good director but I think Adam McKay would have been able to tell this story better with better pacing but otherwise, it is a good film.
Definitely recommend this film to anyone interested in this story and maybe after a rewatch I will love this film a little more.
A fascinating biopic, The Founder tells the story of Ray Kroc, a travelling salesman who took the McDonald brothers cutting edge restaurant and turned it into the largest franchise in the world. After visiting the McDonald brothers burger restaurant Ray Kroc makes a deal to franchise it across the country, but his ambitious plans soon leads to a conflict with the brothers and a battle for control that takes a personal toll on Ray and change him. Starring Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, and Laura Dern, the film has solid cast that delivers some strong performances. And the writing does a good job at showing the corrupting influence of ambition and power. Also, the costumes and sets are especially well-done, giving a real feel for the time period. A remarkably compelling film, The Founder provides an extraordinary look at what it took to turn McDonalds into the international conglomerate it became.
would like to see the end please...
Hate McDonalds. When I order something to go and they are handing me the baggy at the window I have to look inside if something is in there because it's so light. I prefer Burger King.
Everything Comes at a price So does McDonalds. I always want to know the story behind McD.
Hm.... Good movie, very good movie, Roy isn't the bad guy, he just wanted to make the entire USA to eat a McDonald's Hamburguer, the McBrothers were afraid of this, this could be different
Absolutely brilliant movie! Very sad for the two brothers who were completely crushed by the disgusting business practices of one man.
I vowed never to set foot in a Macdonald's restaurant the day I saw this movie!
pretty good. didn't expect so much lies and back-stabs. I would probably do the same though for that much money. REALLY sucks about the McD brothers' "handshake deal"
WELL MADE MOVIE, GREAT FAMILY TIME, AND GOOD MOTIVATOR!!
No marketing around this movie. But you should watch, because it's great movie.
Good actors, good story.
Capitalism is power ❤
Communism does not work
This was a nothing film to me. It really didn't offer anything. The performances by Keaton, Offerman, and Lynch were its saving grace. It told a story, it didn't make me feel anything.
Solid movie, better than I expected. Only problem I had was with the actress who plays Ray's wife, she is annoying to me. I thought it was just me but while watching it another friend of mine said the same exact thing.
Decent biopic about the man that franchised McDonald's. It's an okay portrayal of the corruption of success. From what I know, this is a watered down, candy coated version of the snake that robbed those brothers of their dream. While it's entertaining enough, I think it would've been more interesting to see the more accurate portrayal of that scumbag...
This is not a movie about a man you want to admire. Let me tell you from the get-go, this is not a heroic tale. Like the Steve Jobs movies, it's about a man whose success came at the cost of others' emotional and financial well-being. Was he a good person? Clearly he was not. Was his story worth telling? Oh, absolutely.
I enjoyed the end, but it got off to kind of a rough start. I watched this for Nick Offerman, better known as Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation." His portrayal of Dick McDonald is almost completely opposite to the alpha that is Ron Swanson, and in fact the real-life character of Offerman himself. That said, he did a great job here. Keaton was equally compelling as the sleazy businessman Ray Kroc. I recommend this, but probably not to people who do not enjoy business drama.
Watched it for the hell of it, and actually really enjoyed it. Not a McD's fan or fast-food in general, but the story, even though some is probably exaggerated, was very good. Be prepared to hate Ray Kroc, that's part of the story!
Prequel of The Social Network movie!
Shout by vikdeanBlockedParent2017-07-29T22:00:00Z
It's actually a sad story, how quality became quantity... Pretty sure the first burgers weren't rubbish like nowadays.