I'm not gonna write a synopsis of this film; others have done that already. Small town salesman stumbles on the chance of a lifetime, and from it creates a food empire. Along the way, things start to change. Against the noble-minded but provincial McDonald brothers, Ray Kroc struggles upstream, good-hearted American dream seeker at first, then insidiously segueing into the vicious, cannibalistic uber-capitalist that he insists is absolutely necessary to establish great marches for himself.
Well acted, well done, this movie tells the story chillingly well. Keaton, with his indomitable go-forward-and-blitz-the-opposition really knocked my socks off. To no small manner was his dry, monotonic, gravelly voice expressing his quick, no-nonsense, no-further-argument directives in a manner like orders from a colonel: end-of-story, no questions accepted.
OK, the movie. But why did I call it ironic in my summary? Now, the product. A few years back I showed the movie "Supersize me" to a class of high school students. For those of you who don't know, it's a doc of a healthy young man who eats nothing but super-sized McDonald's burgers, fries and cokes (not diet cokes either) for a month. Afterward, he was obese and diagnosed with a variety of ailments that took a lot longer than the month he OD'ed on his McGorgings. So, putting these two films side by side is the iron: A man with very questionable ethics creates a gonzo empire that sells a product with questionable health value. What would the original McDonald brothers think about those burgers now? I wonder what goes into them? Oh, yes, I've eaten plenty of them, in a few places here and abroad. I'll give the movie a solid B+.
Well acted, well done, this movie tells the story chillingly well. Keaton, with his indomitable go-forward-and-blitz-the-opposition really knocked my socks off. To no small manner was his dry, monotonic, gravelly voice expressing his quick, no-nonsense, no-further-argument directives in a manner like orders from a colonel: end-of-story, no questions accepted.
OK, the movie. But why did I call it ironic in my summary? Now, the product. A few years back I showed the movie "Supersize me" to a class of high school students. For those of you who don't know, it's a doc of a healthy young man who eats nothing but super-sized McDonald's burgers, fries and cokes (not diet cokes either) for a month. Afterward, he was obese and diagnosed with a variety of ailments that took a lot longer than the month he OD'ed on his McGorgings. So, putting these two films side by side is the iron: A man with very questionable ethics creates a gonzo empire that sells a product with questionable health value. What would the original McDonald brothers think about those burgers now? I wonder what goes into them? Oh, yes, I've eaten plenty of them, in a few places here and abroad. I'll give the movie a solid B+.