I think it's pretty obvious that Kurt is not a bad guy.
If anything, whoever backed him up in starting this business must be thrilled that they have someone so devoted in making sure that it is a success.
It was never Kurt's intention to go around and crush small companies and try to bring down the little guy. He very much loved Mondo Burger and wanted it to be a great success, and it was just that for a little while.
He is depicted as being an overbearing Nazi type by Dexter's first encounter with him. However, we fail to realize that anyone would be as mad as Kurt when your employee appears to not be taking his job seriously and talking back with everything a manager is telling him. Dexter deserved to be fired.
Then the film once again tries to make him come off bad when he goes into Good Burger right before MB's grand opening and verbally tears them down. It was nothing personal (except maybe what he said to Dexter, which is understandable). It was a clever strategy, in that he knew if he went over and killed their spirits, they would be prone to give up easier. Once again, he succeeded.
It's obvious that the people he interacts with like him and don't mind helping him out. (He's got Carmen Electra and an asylum in his back pocket, for god's sake.)
And forgive him for bending the rules a little with the illegal food additive. First off, this was good for the animal population. Imagine how many innocent animals it would take to really make the burgers that big. Secondly, Dexter's argument was that it would make all the Mondo Burger customers sick. Well, we saw many weeks in the life of MB and I don't recall any sick people, complaints, or lack of business, so maybe Dexter is just full of it.
Did you notice when Kurt is being driven away by the police? He genuinely looks saddened that they destroyed everything he worked hard to build within minutes.
The movie tries to depict him as this cruel dictator, but he was just someone who wanted to get rich by selling fast food. Not drugs, not handguns. Not by robbery, but a genuine business that people seemed to really enjoy. Let's face it, Good Burger looks like a nice little place, possibly to bring back nostalgia of 1950's diners. But Mondo Burger was truly a happening place that provided great pleasure on the eyes and taste buds of its customers.
And okay, maybe he went a little overboard with the whole shark poison thing.
But when you're trying to run a legitimate business and those damn Good Burger punks keep trying to bring you down instead of calling a truce and working with you, it can make you lose your head. Give the poor man a break. And what's that compared to the damage that Ed caused by destructing Mondo Burger with the giant burgers. Did you see how much danger those innocent customers' lives were in? It's a miracle no one was killed, but I'm sure there were plenty of injuries. And Ed even explains that he made the decision to do that just because Kurt wouldn't go straight to prison. Ed's not stupid. He's sadistic.
Free Kurt Bozwell!
The Golden Globes are fun. The Oscars are business. -Warren Beatty