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Critics Consensus: The Founder puts Michael Keaton's magnetic performance at the center of a smart, satisfying biopic that traces the rise of one of America's most influential businessmen -- and the birth of one of its most far-reaching industries.
Critic Consensus: The Founder puts Michael Keaton's magnetic performance at the center of a smart, satisfying biopic that traces the rise of one of America's most influential businessmen -- and the birth of one of its most far-reaching industries.
All Critics (228) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (186) | Rotten (42)
The Founder ends up feeling extremely wishy-washy, unable to scrub the nastiness of Kroc's success but also incapable of confronting it.
One of the must-see entertainments of the year.
Its omissions and elisions are the result not of natural narrative contours but of open choices, gaping holes, psychological wounds that a filmmaker displays all the more via the elaborate efforts at concealment ...
Keaton is fascinating as Kroc, a bad guy who embodies the American Dream - a man who isn't necessarily the best or most talented but who's willing to step on anyone to get ahead.
The Founder remains fascinating largely because Keaton is so good at guile and bile. Not once does he wink at the audience or overplay the obvious.
John Lee Hancock serves up a biopic of McDonald's king Ray Kroc that is not unlike the restaurant's product: precisely prepared, brightly packaged, and uncomplicated in its appeal. Or at least, that's how it goes down much of the time.
The Founder is almost satisfying but it seems like it has been under the heat lamps for a little too long and winds up soggy and lacking in flavor.
The Founder is an old man's The Wolf of Wall Street, a biopic of cruelty with its teeth dulled by fast food and its fierceness tempered by an overfull belly.
People ask me all the time to recommend nonviolent movies, and now I have a solid option. You'll see nothing happen, good or bad, that will keep you up at night, but you will find yourself thinking about it after it's over.
The Founder tells the fascinating story of Ray Kroc, the pseudo father of McDonalds. Too bad the film is not nearly as fascinating as it would, could or should be.
Hancock tells the story in an engaging enough fashion, and watching Michael Keaton is never a waste of anyone's time. But as a look at big business versus small, the old America versus the new, The Founder is disappointingly bland fare.
I love Michael Keaton's portrayal...this is a story you could've seen in a documentary, but it lends itself to a movie and it was done very well.
Reads like an unpolished draft. Tried to cram too much in instead of focusing on only great scenes with emotional impact. More like a book report than a biopic. Made me crave a McD's cheeseburger though so I guess in that sense, it was a success.
Super Reviewer
Good movie, but about a hideous man. I didn't know the story of Macdonald's prior to watching this and I really felt sorry for the brothers who owned the original restaurant. That guy who took it over was a sleazy little weasel. I spent most of the movie wishing harm on him!
The Founder is a very thorough depiction of business. As the chronicle evolves, we get a tale that metamorphosizes from a drama about entrepreneurial spirit into a commentary on the sins of capitalism. What emerges is a riveting portrayal of Ray Kroc. He comes across as a very intelligent guy but he can be a ruthless tycoon as well. The brothers are depicted in a more sympathetic light. They place a premium on high-quality ingredients for example. Yet their "stuck in a rut" way of thinking is part of an outmoded business model that has kept their attempts to franchise from succeeding in a big way. Did Ray Kroc exploit the brothers' geniality or was he the visionary that saw opportunities that they didn't? It's an interesting discussion and one that the screenplay encourages. You will both admire and chastise this man. That duality grounds The Founder. I enjoyed every morsel that it served up. fastfilmreviews.com
Pretty good biopic that begins with an American desperate to "make it big"and ends with images of the burned bodies of those who trusted him behind him. Resonance comes in that most recognise this particularly famous individual. Quality work.
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