By LILA SEIDMAN | Reporter
What’s more American than pie? McDonald’s, perhaps.
Not just for its iconic status as one of the U.S.’s most prodigious cultural exports, but for its origin story—a master class in “think big” capitalist savvy helmed by Chicago-raised Ray Kroc, who took an efficient burger shack founded by two brothers (John Carroll Lynch as Mac McDonald; Nick Offerman as Dick McDonald) in San Bernardino and made it “yuge.”
Part-time Palisadian Michael Keaton personifies smarmy-visionary Kroc in the John Lee Hancock-directed, tongue-in-cheek-titled biopic “The Founder,” slated for wide release on Friday, Dec. 16. Kroc didn’t found the restaurant chain in the traditional sense, but he was instrumental in growing it to behemoth size.
The McDonald brothers worried about sacrificing the quality of their food for the outsize paycheck of franchising. Kroc’s second wife Joan Smith (Linda Cardellini) eventually swaps in milkshake powder for the real-dairy deal: the brothers’ anxieties are confirmed.
Is Kroc a shrewd business act to emulate or a morally bankrupt entrepreneur exploiting other mens’ grease for gold? It’s a distinctly American ambiguity. (And, understandably, reviewers couldn’t resist pointing out Trumpian parallels.)
The cast is rounded out by BJ Novak and Laura Dern as Kroc’s first wife.
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