Hi internet,
Cat here. I'm not sure what the format of this series is going to be but I hope you'll stick with me as I figure it out. Today I'm just going for stream of consciousness. Light discussion of the movie but no major spoilers.
Streaming Service: You can find The Founder on Netflix.
Mood: I wasn't feeling great when I sat down to watch a movie but I didn't want to force myself to cheer up with a comedy, romantic or otherwise. And I also didn't want to have to engage with something intellectually challenging or emotionally intense. And so I settled on The Founder. For better or for worse I'm generally good at gauging what I need to program for myself in a given mood so I'll keep my eyes glued to my laptop and The Founder felt like just the thing I wanted in that moment.
Temperature: The Founder was released in December 2016 so it's not as cold of a take as some of the other movies I have planned for this series. I'd call it Lukewarm.
My thoughts on the movie evolved as I watched it. At first I was just taken in by Michael Keaton's performance and the look of the film. From the first sales pitch that opens the movie, you can instantly tell that Keaton is operating on a higher level than most as an actor. He makes the kind of smart acting choices that communicate so much about the character beyond what's in the script. For example, both he and the screenwriter are aware that this is not the story of a great man or a charismatic huckster. And so time and time again, Ray fails at bamboozling his targets. He doesn't get what he wants through charm or force of personality though a movie star like Michael Keaton should be more than capable of conveying that should the role require it. Also, this is my bias, but I enjoyed the pleasantly washed out colors at the beginning of the movie. It looked like the real world. I avoid a lot of bigger movies because I just can't stand all the orange/blue high contrast and blue filters.
My opinion shifted as the movie increasingly made more obvious directorial and visual storytelling choices and the script became more predictable and more of a Hollywood gloss came over the proceedings. When Ray meets the McDonald brothers for the first time the movie almost morphs into a commercial/documentary style that feels borderline cheap. But from that point on, things start to look more familiar. The color palette of the movie becomes more recognizable until the feeling that you've seen similar scenes in other movies is inescapable and that suspension of disbelief starts to dissipate. Cues that something notable is being communicated are very apparent. The movie tries its best not to knock you over the head but you can feel that it really wants to. It's hard to miss the introduction of Fred Turner. They play up every time Ray lies about his ideas for McDonald's or founding of the company. The contrast between his relationship with his wife and other marital relationships in the movie is very apparent. One of the more egregious choices is when Ray is tempted by both the wife of a franchisee and a scheme to cut costs with an inferior product. The scene ends with a close up shot of the powdered mix milkshake, framed so that you also get a direct look at the woman's cleavage. Her chest is slightly out of focus. See, subtle.
Speaking of the female characters in the movie, they aren't handled terribly well. Laura Dern does her best in a thankless role as Ray's wife. She's sketched in just enough to make demands but not be shrewish and to be sympathetic but not really have a significant role. As portrayed in this movie, Ethel is perhaps a little superficial. She wants to have dinner at the club and she has poor taste in friends. But she also just wants to spend time with her husband and in spite of his complaints, she does support him and try to make the effort to help him grow his business and even help him find franchisees once she realizes what he's looking for. But her efforts are never enough. It's perhaps her easy acquiescence and lack of drive that prevent him from ever seeing her as a full partner. In direct contrast to his tall, slim, and quiet wife is the previously mentioned temptation of another man's wife who is petite, curvy, and bold... but in a feminine and seductive way that doesn't challenge his dominance. She's written as a plot device, a femme fatale who doesn't scheme at the level of Lady Macbeth but does seem oddly compelled (and not rebuffed) by Ray's clear inroads into her seemingly happy marriage with the gorgeous Patrick Wilson. There's no explanation besides her heretofore untapped ambition for why she'll stay up late murmuring sweet words of encouragement to Ray over the phone like a sultrier less manic version of the modern manic pixie dream girl. Ray also has a secretary but she barely registers as a character.
Another poorly written character is B.J. Novak's Harry Sonneborn who might as well actually be Mephistopheles for all it makes sense how he sweeps in to the picture and why he helps Ray pursue his business interests the way he does. His character is not particularly devious or demonic but he does enable Ray to go from making small, notably unsuccessful trespasses to finally building his empire and gaining all his heart desires. But that's what a deal with the devil can do.
So... let's finally talk about McDonald's. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch turn in wonderful performances as the brothers who actually opened the restaurant and, more importantly, devised a system to streamline and speed up food preparation and eliminate some of the pitfalls of drive-in model. They created the model on which franchises could be started. When I say their introduction serves as a bit of a commercial for McDonald's, I mean that the movie certainly chooses to be generous about their genius and embodiment of American values and the American dream. More time is spent on a Moneyball-style focus on numbers and mass production instead of lingering on those shots of greasy burgers and potatoes being dunked in vats of oil. The movie does argue persuasively for the convenience of the experience and the fact that it provides customers with what they want. It never explicitly condemns the fast food chain but as the business franchises expand across the country and the marketing touts home and family messaging and also proposes the idea that burgers, fries, and milkshakes are an acceptable regular diet and not an occasional indulgence, the sense of distaste is unavoidable.
Ultimately, the movie falls short of what it's trying to be... which ended up being The Social Network with a Death of a Salesman twist. It shortchanges its narrative with stereotypical female characters and walks the line of being heavy-handed with scenes of Keaton clutching dirt in his fist. We wander so far from Ray's initial struggles as a mixer salesman that it's almost jarring at the end when he brings up his Slavic sounding name and his coveting of the American moniker of McDonald's (let's not get into how at that point they weren't too many decades removed from anti-Irish and anti-Scottish sentiment). Speaking of discrimination, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the lack of acknowledgement of the casual integration of the crowd scenes. This movie starts in the 50's. The movie's final scene doesn't pack an emotional punch but there's a lot to recommend it throughout, mostly to the credit of the actors and the way it stays on a pretty even keel.
CONCLUSION: I wouldn't seek this one out. But if you're in a similar mood and looking for an unchallenging biopic that mostly avoids heavy-handed Hollywood storytelling, consider checking out The Founder. The talented cast anchors the film with very solid performances. Birdman is probably a better movie but I won't know until it's on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
If you're curious about how far the movie diverges from the real life story, I found this website after I finished watching it. It's worth a quick read if you do watch the movie.
http://rayandjoan.com/the-founder/
Cat here. I'm not sure what the format of this series is going to be but I hope you'll stick with me as I figure it out. Today I'm just going for stream of consciousness. Light discussion of the movie but no major spoilers.
Streaming Service: You can find The Founder on Netflix.
Mood: I wasn't feeling great when I sat down to watch a movie but I didn't want to force myself to cheer up with a comedy, romantic or otherwise. And I also didn't want to have to engage with something intellectually challenging or emotionally intense. And so I settled on The Founder. For better or for worse I'm generally good at gauging what I need to program for myself in a given mood so I'll keep my eyes glued to my laptop and The Founder felt like just the thing I wanted in that moment.
Temperature: The Founder was released in December 2016 so it's not as cold of a take as some of the other movies I have planned for this series. I'd call it Lukewarm.
My thoughts on the movie evolved as I watched it. At first I was just taken in by Michael Keaton's performance and the look of the film. From the first sales pitch that opens the movie, you can instantly tell that Keaton is operating on a higher level than most as an actor. He makes the kind of smart acting choices that communicate so much about the character beyond what's in the script. For example, both he and the screenwriter are aware that this is not the story of a great man or a charismatic huckster. And so time and time again, Ray fails at bamboozling his targets. He doesn't get what he wants through charm or force of personality though a movie star like Michael Keaton should be more than capable of conveying that should the role require it. Also, this is my bias, but I enjoyed the pleasantly washed out colors at the beginning of the movie. It looked like the real world. I avoid a lot of bigger movies because I just can't stand all the orange/blue high contrast and blue filters.
My opinion shifted as the movie increasingly made more obvious directorial and visual storytelling choices and the script became more predictable and more of a Hollywood gloss came over the proceedings. When Ray meets the McDonald brothers for the first time the movie almost morphs into a commercial/documentary style that feels borderline cheap. But from that point on, things start to look more familiar. The color palette of the movie becomes more recognizable until the feeling that you've seen similar scenes in other movies is inescapable and that suspension of disbelief starts to dissipate. Cues that something notable is being communicated are very apparent. The movie tries its best not to knock you over the head but you can feel that it really wants to. It's hard to miss the introduction of Fred Turner. They play up every time Ray lies about his ideas for McDonald's or founding of the company. The contrast between his relationship with his wife and other marital relationships in the movie is very apparent. One of the more egregious choices is when Ray is tempted by both the wife of a franchisee and a scheme to cut costs with an inferior product. The scene ends with a close up shot of the powdered mix milkshake, framed so that you also get a direct look at the woman's cleavage. Her chest is slightly out of focus. See, subtle.
Speaking of the female characters in the movie, they aren't handled terribly well. Laura Dern does her best in a thankless role as Ray's wife. She's sketched in just enough to make demands but not be shrewish and to be sympathetic but not really have a significant role. As portrayed in this movie, Ethel is perhaps a little superficial. She wants to have dinner at the club and she has poor taste in friends. But she also just wants to spend time with her husband and in spite of his complaints, she does support him and try to make the effort to help him grow his business and even help him find franchisees once she realizes what he's looking for. But her efforts are never enough. It's perhaps her easy acquiescence and lack of drive that prevent him from ever seeing her as a full partner. In direct contrast to his tall, slim, and quiet wife is the previously mentioned temptation of another man's wife who is petite, curvy, and bold... but in a feminine and seductive way that doesn't challenge his dominance. She's written as a plot device, a femme fatale who doesn't scheme at the level of Lady Macbeth but does seem oddly compelled (and not rebuffed) by Ray's clear inroads into her seemingly happy marriage with the gorgeous Patrick Wilson. There's no explanation besides her heretofore untapped ambition for why she'll stay up late murmuring sweet words of encouragement to Ray over the phone like a sultrier less manic version of the modern manic pixie dream girl. Ray also has a secretary but she barely registers as a character.
Another poorly written character is B.J. Novak's Harry Sonneborn who might as well actually be Mephistopheles for all it makes sense how he sweeps in to the picture and why he helps Ray pursue his business interests the way he does. His character is not particularly devious or demonic but he does enable Ray to go from making small, notably unsuccessful trespasses to finally building his empire and gaining all his heart desires. But that's what a deal with the devil can do.
So... let's finally talk about McDonald's. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch turn in wonderful performances as the brothers who actually opened the restaurant and, more importantly, devised a system to streamline and speed up food preparation and eliminate some of the pitfalls of drive-in model. They created the model on which franchises could be started. When I say their introduction serves as a bit of a commercial for McDonald's, I mean that the movie certainly chooses to be generous about their genius and embodiment of American values and the American dream. More time is spent on a Moneyball-style focus on numbers and mass production instead of lingering on those shots of greasy burgers and potatoes being dunked in vats of oil. The movie does argue persuasively for the convenience of the experience and the fact that it provides customers with what they want. It never explicitly condemns the fast food chain but as the business franchises expand across the country and the marketing touts home and family messaging and also proposes the idea that burgers, fries, and milkshakes are an acceptable regular diet and not an occasional indulgence, the sense of distaste is unavoidable.
Ultimately, the movie falls short of what it's trying to be... which ended up being The Social Network with a Death of a Salesman twist. It shortchanges its narrative with stereotypical female characters and walks the line of being heavy-handed with scenes of Keaton clutching dirt in his fist. We wander so far from Ray's initial struggles as a mixer salesman that it's almost jarring at the end when he brings up his Slavic sounding name and his coveting of the American moniker of McDonald's (let's not get into how at that point they weren't too many decades removed from anti-Irish and anti-Scottish sentiment). Speaking of discrimination, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the lack of acknowledgement of the casual integration of the crowd scenes. This movie starts in the 50's. The movie's final scene doesn't pack an emotional punch but there's a lot to recommend it throughout, mostly to the credit of the actors and the way it stays on a pretty even keel.
CONCLUSION: I wouldn't seek this one out. But if you're in a similar mood and looking for an unchallenging biopic that mostly avoids heavy-handed Hollywood storytelling, consider checking out The Founder. The talented cast anchors the film with very solid performances. Birdman is probably a better movie but I won't know until it's on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
If you're curious about how far the movie diverges from the real life story, I found this website after I finished watching it. It's worth a quick read if you do watch the movie.
http://rayandjoan.com/the-founder/
