The Founder
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The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
What critics thought
The Founder earns broadly favorable notices on the strength of Michael Keaton's performance as Ray Kroc, though critics diverged on how well the film handles its own moral ambiguity — some found it a shrewdly unsettling portrait of American capitalism, while others felt it leaned too heavily on exposition and never quite squared Kroc's business story with his personal life. The gap between enthusiastic critical response and more measured scores suggests audiences found it solid but not revelatory.
“strive hard—and mostly succeed—at keeping Hollywood sentiment out of the storytelling... Set more than a half-century ago, The Founder proves to be a movie for a divisive here and now. Step right up. You might just learn something.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about The Founder constantly since seeing it... It's an ad that becomes a warning before circling around and becoming another, darker kind of advertisement, and one of the most intriguing and surprising things about The Founder is that, in the end, it seems vaguely ashamed of itself for letting this happen”
Matt Zoller Seitz·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
John Lee HancockDirector
Michael KeatonRay Kroc
Nick OffermanDick McDonald
John Carroll LynchMac McDonald
Linda CardelliniJoan Smith
B.J. NovakHarry J. Sonneborn
Laura DernEthel Kroc
Justin Randell BrookeFred Turner
Kate KneelandJune Martino
Patrick WilsonRollie Smith
Griff FurstJim Zien
Wilbur FitzgeraldJerry Cullen
David de VriesJack Horford
Carter BurwellComposer
Robert D. SiegelWriter
John SchwartzmanCinematographyThe Founder
The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
What critics thought
The Founder earns broadly favorable notices on the strength of Michael Keaton's performance as Ray Kroc, though critics diverged on how well the film handles its own moral ambiguity — some found it a shrewdly unsettling portrait of American capitalism, while others felt it leaned too heavily on exposition and never quite squared Kroc's business story with his personal life. The gap between enthusiastic critical response and more measured scores suggests audiences found it solid but not revelatory.
“strive hard—and mostly succeed—at keeping Hollywood sentiment out of the storytelling... Set more than a half-century ago, The Founder proves to be a movie for a divisive here and now. Step right up. You might just learn something.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about The Founder constantly since seeing it... It's an ad that becomes a warning before circling around and becoming another, darker kind of advertisement, and one of the most intriguing and surprising things about The Founder is that, in the end, it seems vaguely ashamed of itself for letting this happen”
Matt Zoller Seitz·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
John Lee HancockDirectorMichael KeatonRay KrocNick OffermanDick McDonaldJohn Carroll LynchMac McDonaldLinda CardelliniJoan SmithB.J. NovakHarry J. SonnebornLaura DernEthel KrocJustin Randell BrookeFred TurnerKate KneelandJune MartinoPatrick WilsonRollie SmithGriff FurstJim ZienWilbur FitzgeraldJerry CullenDavid de VriesJack HorfordCarter BurwellComposerRobert D. SiegelWriterJohn SchwartzmanCinematographyStream
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