The Founder (2016)

Directed by: John Lee Hancock | 110 minutes | biography, drama, history | Actors: Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Linda Cardellini, BJ Novak, Laura Dern, Justin Randell Brooke, Kate Kneeland, Patrick Wilson, Griff Furst, Wilbur Fitzgerald, David de Vries, Andrew Benator, Cara Mantella

You don’t have to be a fan of McDonald’s food to admire the empire the creators or founders of the innovative fast food restaurant have created. But that’s where the shoe pinches right away; or rather, the story about McDonald’s gets interesting. Because the founders of the first McDonald’s restaurant, with its innovative ‘Speedee’ conveyor belt system, which delivers every customer their hamburger, fries and soft drink within 30 seconds, are not responsible for the creation of the McDonald’s franchise and its inimitable worldwide success. The person who made this – after all – American Dream come true is Jay Kroc (Michael Keaton), a shrewd door-to-door salesman who saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands, largely over the backs of the original creators. This fact makes ‘The Founder’ a juicier and more controversial film than if it had been a simple success story of a bunch of honest, hard-working citizens.

When you enter it ‘clean’, that’s the first big surprise: the face of ‘The Founder’ of McDonald’s that you look at from the movie poster or Blu-ray, that of Ray Kroc (Keaton), does not belong to the person who the concept of McDonald’s ever conceived. Kroc was in no way even involved with the very first McDonalds restaurant (which he would later lie about outright). We meet him when he tries to sell a milkshake maker (for 5 milkshakes) to various restaurateurs and has to return home again and again with no results. He lives in a nice house with his wife (Laura Dern) and he also moves in good circles, but he is always looking for the invention that will make him (really) rich and is a bit of the laughingstock of his social circle become. His wife wants them to just live, but for Ray the sky is the limit.

Because he is portrayed here as a bit of a wimp – a stubborn, but admirable go-getter who struggles with everything – he is an underdog from the start that you like to see succeed. And you keep that feeling as a viewer for quite a while, even if some of his pranks have already revealed themselves. For example, he has already opened (too) many restaurants against the will of the brothers, without maintaining control and he clearly wants to take commercial steps – such as advertising deals with Coca Cola – which the brothers do not feel comfortable with. But he is also openly flirting with the wife of a business partner, for example, not only disrespectfully towards this best man, but of course also not polite to his own wife. The latter, however, can also be somewhat justified because it is obvious that Jay and his wife do not fit together and a divorce is the wisest anyway. As for his business decisions, he’s the one who thought big and did everything he could to make his vision a reality. Then you can’t always accept ‘no’ and you sometimes have to go over corpses. However? And to manage, successfully set up and streamline a franchise you do need talent. At the same time, it is striking to see that he did not have enough business acumen to achieve real personal and financial success with the franchise. He had agreed to a contract that was very unfavorable to him and, although he is building up many branches, he still threatens to go bankrupt because most of the money does not end up with him and he has a lot of costs. Only because he is approached at the right time by financial advisor Harry Sonneborn (BJ Novak) does he manage to turn the tide.

It is an interesting evolution in the relationship between the viewer and the main character, which in the end can only turn out negatively for Kroc. The cool way he says he’s divorcing his wife, the way he antagonizes the brothers (resulting in one of them being hospitalized)—for example, by ordering massive amounts of milk powder sachets for making milkshakes— the blunt statements he makes – ‘If a competitor threatens to drown, I put a garden hose in his mouth. Can you do that too?’ -, his claim that he himself was the founder of the very first McDonald’s, and – seriously – never paying the brothers the promised royalties (which would amount to $100 million a year), all cause a dirty taste in your mouth is left at the thought of this man.

For most people, this story will be quite an eye-opener and something that you will often think about in the future when you sink your teeth into a Big Mac or a McNugget. Whether the burgers and fries will really taste less is the question, but it is certain that it will leave an (extra?) blemish on the blazon of the fast food giant. Perhaps that is also one of the reasons that no further mention is made of the, say, health aspects of the food; of fast food in general, and McDonald’s in particular. Also, the way in which the brand/restaurant – according to the vision of both Kroc and the brothers – has truly grown into a place for the whole family, and has become a symbol of America, is still food for thought. It’s quite remarkable: twenty years ago, McDonald’s in the Netherlands was still ‘just’ a place where you could get a snack if you were hungry or hungry, just like at the chip shop around the corner. Soon people started eating whole ‘meals’, with the whole family indeed, and at practically any time of the day. A ‘special’ development, which also has a clear impact on the average weight of our citizens. McDonald’s has since become something of an attraction for the youth – ‘Can we go to the Mac?’ – who just for the fun of getting rid of a hamburger or milkshake. Because normal bread is also so boring.

These kinds of observations are not in the film. Perhaps it is – or was – less controversial in America, but in ‘The Founder’ eating a burger and fries is presented as something blissful and beautiful. When Jay Kroc first gets acquainted with McDonald’s lightning-fast system and sees people sitting on a bench outside the diner eating burgers, it’s like they’re consuming a gourmet meal. They take their bites in slow motion, laughing and enjoying themselves to the fullest. They just barely wipe the corners of their mouths with a tip of a napkin, and then give the compliments to the cook. Or maybe they did.

At the plot or character level of the film itself, it also lacks depth here and there. For example, the McDonald brothers are portrayed fairly one-sided, especially once Ray starts running with their idea. It’s fascinating when they talk about the origins of their conveyor belt system, but later they’re mostly stomping on the phone when Ray has another great idea. It would have been nice to learn a little more about their views on the quality of the food, the feeling they wanted to convey, and how they ended up thinking about the restaurants that eventually became McDonald’s. Did they still feel any pride and was there still something of their heart and soul to be found in it? How far was Ray Kroc’s McDonald’s from the original in the end? This contrast – one of the most interesting elements of the story – could have been emphasized a little more. Furthermore, Laura Dern also has a somewhat monotonous, thankless role as Jay’s wife; usually quarreling or looking ahead in mourning.

Still, this doesn’t detract much from the entertaining and intriguing content of ‘The Founder’, wonderfully flavored by Michael Keaton, who seems to be enjoying a second life now that he – after top roles in the likes of ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Birdman ‘ – was (re)discovered as a serious dramatic actor. His portrayal takes the film to a higher level, say from a McChicken to a Coq au Vin.