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Michael Keaton bites into a meaty role in "The Founder," a biographical drama that leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Keaton plays Ray Kroc, whom we meet in 1954 as a desperate salesman, unsuccessfully pitching five-spindle milkshake machines to drive-in restaurants in the Midwest. When brothers Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch) order eight of the gadgets, Kroc drives to California and sees they have a new concept: efficient and fast mass production of burgers, fries and shakes. He cajoles the brothers into franchising the concept, which he takes across the Midwest. But when Kroc clashes with the brothers over quality control, he maneuvers to freeze them out of the fast-food success that still bears their name.
Director John Lee Hancock ("The Blind Side") starts charmingly enough, with Kroc as a striver who sees the McDonalds' golden arches as a yellow-neon beacon of the American dream. But as the highly fictionalized script, by Robert Siegel ("The Wrestler"), plays out, Kroc's success story turns dark, as he leaves his wife (Laura Dern), flirts with his future wife, Joan (Linda Cardellini), and takes credit for Dick McDonald's genius concept.
Keaton clearly relishes the chance to play this larger-than-life character, but even he can't overcome Kroc's lack of likability. The viewer is left with a dilemma: Why watch a movie about a double-talking salesman when there's one on TV taking the oath of office?
'The Founder'
Opens Friday, Jan. 20, at area theaters; rated PG-13 for brief strong language; 115 minutes.