The Founder (2016)

Most people think so. 83% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics agree, scoring it 73%.

The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire. Wikipedia ↗

The Founder is a 2016 American biographical drama directed by John Lee Hancock. Michael Keaton stars as Ray Kroc, a struggling milkshake machine salesman in 1954 who discovers McDonald's, a revolutionary burger restaurant in San Bernardino, California run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch. Fascinated by their assembly-line approach to fast food — which produces quality burgers in 30 seconds rather than 30 minutes — Kroc convinces the brothers to let him franchise the concept, then systematically maneuvers to take control of the company, eventually buying the brothers out and building McDonald's into the global empire it became.

Michael Keaton's performance walked a razor's edge between admiration and revulsion — Kroc's relentless ambition and business genius were genuinely impressive, but his willingness to betray the men whose innovation he exploited was chilling.