Movie: The Founder (2016)***

The Founder is a movie based on the story of McDonald's and the man, who, for a time, claimed to be the founder of McDonald's, Ray Kroc. If you are not a fan of McDonald's, this movie will probably make you hate that corporation. I certainly do. According to this movie, it is a company built on greed, taking advantage of decent people and lies.

I did some internet digging and I found out that many of the facts in The Founder are true. Although I was annoyed when reading a few online articles about fact vs fiction and they all keep saying that in the movie Ray Kroc introduced the idea of franchising to the McDonald brothers. DID ANYONE ACTUALLY WATCH THE MOVIE?! There's a scene with really good editing work that shows the McDonald brothers had already tried franchising by the time Kroc showed up on their doorstep. Kroc just did a better job at franchising.

I didn't think the acting was particularly notable, although the cast was good group of comedy mainstays: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch and BJ Novak. The writing represented the truth really well, while managing to be engaging and entertaining. I thought the production design was top notch. It looks like they rebuilt actual McDonald's locations on sets, the time period was well represented in costume and set design. The scene showing the McDonald brothers' speedy system choreography was a pleasure to watch. This might have won for Best Look at The Chocket Awards this year had I seen it earlier.

Anyway, I'm giving The Founder three stars***. I think its a good movie overall, but I don't see much reason to watch it over and over. I also think it offers a valuable point of reflection on one's choices as a consumer. For instance, I feel like I cannot support the McDonald's Corporation because they're greasy and gross literally and figuratively, but guess who is one of the major contributors to much of my favorite radio programming? The Joan B. Kroc Foundation. That's Joan, wife of the grease man, Ray Kroc.

I checked this DVD out from the library.