I was pretty excited about The Founder when I saw the trailer, enough to give it a try as a trainer movie. This is always a little risky with dramas or biopics, which tend to make for better viewing when you're actually giving it your full concentration, but Michael Keaton's particular insanity did the job for me.
Plot synopsis: Michael Keaton's failed milkshake machine salesman sees the potential in a restaurant run by the McDonald brothers (Ron Swanson and the Zodiac Killer), pressures them into expanding, then pretty much hijacks the whole operation with the help of Ryan Howard from the Office and that one single-mom nurse from ER who used to live in Don Draper's building. Does a fairly typical biopic treatment, hitting fictionalized versions of key events in the real story. Over the course of the movie, its protagonist comes across more and more villainous. It's hard to say whether that's what the megalomaniacal Ray Kroc was really like or whether the director just couldn't put the brakes on Keaton. Overall the character comes across a little two-dimensional, not the Oscar-winning home run swing they were probably hoping for.
Who would like this: Ron Swanson fans, Keaton fans. If neither applies this might not be the movie for you.
Pluses: every scene where Swanson gets exasperated at Keaton. Keaton's speech coach.
Minuses: Laura Dern doesn't get much to do. The story of the divorce and remarriage is mentioned but has no flesh on it at all. Pretty formulaic.
Suggested workout pairing: avoid long sustained efforts. You'll need something snappy to break up the time a bit. I did two 20m intervals at sweet spot pace with a standing 30s at VO2 max every four minutes.
The Bottom Line: an OK trainer movie if you really like these actors (which I do). Probably better to watch it like a normal person. Included on Netflix; not worth a rental fee for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment