The Founder

Hancock's bland biopic offers a sanitised and sympathetic take on the burger chain's beginnings and the man who turned it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

One of the many pleasures in John Lee Hancock's study of the man who made McDonald's an empire is its reminder that even the simplest ideas need to be invented.

The man, played with dark relish by Michael Keaton, has the fabulous name of Ray Kroc (there is a suitably reptilian air to his grin as he says things such as: "Contracts are like hearts. They're made to be broken").

It is a surprisingly nuanced and barbed look at the American Dream and its flip side.

[A] bright, absorbing biopic ...

The Founder could have been a Preston Sturges-style comedy/biopic - a high-mischief fairy tale with moral resonance. Instead it does little but polish Ray Kroc's boots.

This is definitely a film to watch – not only as a real “eye-opener” into the success of the world’s most recognisable fast-food chain, but also for Keaton’s dedicated and enthusiastic performance.

John Lee Hancock's The Founder is the perfect movie for a country that has just chosen a vapid brand for its chief executive.

Thanks to a strong, character-focused script by Robert Siegel (The Wrestler) and engaging performances across the board, it all turns out to be pretty riveting stuff.

Underneath its biopic epidermis is a surprisingly rich character study that can be as shrewd as Kroc himself and that doesn’t shy away from looking at him with a skeptical eye.