The title “The Founder” is in some ways a perplexing descriptor for a biopic of Ray Kroc, the man who took the McDonald’s burger restaurant from a local favorite to a global behemoth. Truth be told, he’s not the founder of McDonald’s. But the title fits Kroc’s specific approach to success, a version of the American Dream that states, if you want something, go out and take it — even if it belongs to someone else.
Michael Keaton stars as Kroc, a salesman peddling multispindle milkshake mixers out of the trunk of his car. After hitting almost every drive-in burger joint in the land, he knows a good idea when he sees one, and he appreciates the efficiency he discovers at the McDonald’s hamburger bar in San Bernadino, where the brothers Mac and Dick McDonald (John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman) have devised a clever “speedee” system for delivering burgers from grill to customer, mapping and choreographing and modifying as they’ve gone along.
They’re all too proud to share their tricks with Ray, though they have no idea what they’re in for, his cheery demeanor masking the fact that there is no ethical limit to his ambition. Their trust is Ray’s ascension to the top and their downfall. It’s the age-old story of corporate capitalism: One man’s success is another’s exploitation.
Director John Lee Hancock is known for his more saccharine, uplifting fare, but writer Robert D. Siegel brings an undercurrent of satirical acid to the story of the brothers who started a burger stand and the man who wrestled their restaurant, system, and name away from them and turned it into an institution. While he may not have thought up their burger assembly line system, Ray has a talent for branding, and “McDonald’s” is the perfect American brand. He recognizes that the sturdy, Anglo name offers a sense of small town comfort, and the golden arches designed by Dick serve as an architectural beacon of family gathering and food. Thus, the church of fast food is born.