2017 drama
Rating: 14/20
Plot: Ray Kroc steals ideas from a pair of brothers and then builds an empire that likely kills millions around the world every year.
This very safe, breezy drama is worth watching though it's a bit generic. Michael Keaton brings his Cal Ripken eyebrows. They're villainous eyebrows which must be why he's being cast as a villain more and more. Here, he's a more effective villain than in the recent Spider-man movie because his eyebrows are more fervent.
My main gripe with this would probably be that there's no impact to the drama. It's hard to take actors like Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch seriously even though I liked them both. The whole thing's just a little too light. There's almost some exploration of McDonalds as some sort of new American church with juxtapositions of cross, flag, and golden arches shots, but Keaton's Kroc never really becomes the cult leader he could have been in this.
I did enjoy watching hamburgers being made rapidly, the crazy burger ballet. I wish I had been a live when fast food was made by people who look somewhat clean. I would have bumped this up a point if it included a scene where cows and/or chickens were being slaughtered.
This is one of my favorite movies so far from this year, not that I have had a lot to choose from. You seem to dis (can a 53 year-old legally use the word dis?) the brothers, but I thought that they were terrific, carrying most of the comedic and emotional lifting in their limited screen time. I loved their characters and the acting as it continued to dawn on them who they were dealing with. Keaton is a bit more one-note, but was perfect at conveying the slightly manic, single-minded drive and ruthlessness of Kroc. I grew up in the 60's and 70's , and seeing McDonald's in a simpler time was very nostalgic. This is a small and narrowly focused movie that does a great job telling a familiar story.A 17.
ReplyDeleteI ONLY know McDonalds as a giant uncontrollable beast of a franchise. No real nostalgia for me.
ReplyDeleteI did like watching Offerman/Lynch.