• Home
  • Meetings
  • Events
  • Blog
  • E-Board
  • Around Boston
  • Join
Northeastern University's Film Enthusiasts Club
.

AJ Martin on The Founder

1/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
I feel like there are a lot of movies with stories like this coming out: where audiences are shown the darker side of the founding of a major corporation. Maybe I am just remembering Jobs, the movie about Apple founder Steve Jobs and how he screwed over his partner, Steve Wozniak. But I do feel like this is a story we hear about a lot: the small-time people who have a genius idea getting over-taken by someone with ruthless ambition and determination. The Founder’s story is just like that, which would usually have me spouting off about how the story seems to lack originality and feels like every other movie with this premise. And while the movie is at times quite heavy-handed and cliché, its excellent performances manage to make the ride entertaining.

The story mainly focuses on Raymond Kroc (Michael Keaton), a salesman in the mid-1950s trying to sell his inventions that no one wants. He is convinced that with enough determination he can rise to the top and be rich, and he finally finds his path to fame when he stumbles across a small restaurant called McDonalds. He introduces himself to Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch), the owners of the place who pride themselves on their speed and efficiency. Convinced that this is where he will make his millions, Kroc convinces the brothers that he can turn their restaurant into a huge franchise. They agree, under the condition that they have complete creative control over everything he does. At first, things look like they are going well, until Kroc’s ambition overtakes his morals and goes behind the McDonalds’ backs.

Though the movie has what I would consider to be a fairly standard and generic story, the situation that it presents is interesting enough to hold its own among other ‘based on a true story’ dramas. Hearing the story of how such a major company like McDonalds was created is interesting in its own right, especially when you consider the circumstances that its popularization was created under. Everybody knows McDonalds, but many (myself included) might not know the shady methods that Kroc used to become a billionaire. This makes the movie interesting enough to break through the monotony of the story’s plot, especially considering its great performances.

Keaton does an excellent job at playing the conniving and over-confident Kroc, reminding me that it is characters like this that he really shines at playing. He has an opening monologue that I found myself critiquing for its clichés yet still captivated by because Keaton’s performance. Kroc’s combined awkwardness and persistence makes him an interesting character and Keaton nails it. The rest of the cast, including Laura Dern, B.J. Novak, Patrick Wilson and Linda Cardellini, do a great job as well, weaving the story of McDonald’s creation effortlessly.

The only real problem I have with the film is that its formulaic nature has a tendency to bleed into the movie’s dialogue, especially Keaton’s. The scene where Keaton looks at the plot of land he wants to turn into a McDonalds and repeats “Let me be right, just the once” three times seems incredibly forced. There are many lines of dialogue just as cliché as that, and without the movie’s excellent performances, this would have made the film a slog to sit through. Luckily, Keaton, Offerman, Lynch and the supporting cast are so charismatic and flow so well off each other that it became a non-issue. In total, The Founder is a good telling of an extremely interesting story. It won’t win any awards, but it’s definitely worth checking out. 

Grade: B+
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    AJ Martin
    Andy Robinson
    Anime
    Anthony Formicola
    Anu Gulati
    Arjun Agarwal
    Arzu Martinez
    Ben Garbow
    Brandon Isaacson
    Brian Hamilton
    Carter Sigl
    Dan Simeone
    Discussion
    Elizabeth Johnson Wilson
    Eliza Rosenberry
    Emily Fisler
    Erick Sanchez
    Eric Tatar
    Essays
    Festivals
    Gabrielle Ulubay
    Haley Emerson
    Here's Some Movies
    Ian Wolff
    IFF Boston
    IFFBoston 2015
    Interviews
    Isaac Feldberg
    Kunal Asarsa
    Library
    Lists
    Marguerite Darcy
    Marissa Marchese
    Mary Tobin
    Meghan Murphy
    Mike Muse
    Mitch Macro
    Neel Shah
    Netflix Instant Watch
    Parth Parekh
    Patrick Roos
    Profiles
    Reviews
    Short Films
    Television
    This Week In Movies
    Tyler Rosini

    Want to Write for Us?

    Contact NUFEC President Ian Wolff at nufecblog@gmail.com if you're interested in writing for this blog!

    Archives

    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.