Michael Keaton’s first attempt to really capitalize on his Birdman comeback—he had a minor role in Spotlight—is valiant, but doesn’t add up to much. He’s Ray Kroc, who stole McDonald’s from the actual McDonalds, a pair of corn-fed brothers (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) with virtue and principles, things Kroc abandons almost immediately. We see Kroc struggle as a travelling salesman, glom onto and expand the McDonald’s idea, heartlessly dump his wife (Laura Dern, wasted), screw the brothers out of royalties and, as the movie ends, open up a McDonald’s across the street from the original hamburger stand. The guy is a prick and a half. Unlike The Wolf of Wall Street, the movie seems fairly disgusted by Kroc’s actions, but like director John Lee Hancock’s The Blind Side, it’s also tonally confused—not quite a drama, but not a satire either. It is a great business lesson, however, and another gross depiction of the terrible thing called The American Dream. Economics majors will love it.
