In Good Company Review

by Ryan Ellis (flickershows AT hotmail DOT com)
January 20th, 2005

In Good Company

reviewed by Ryan Ellis

January 19, 2005

My Tagline---Corporate whores

Topher Grace has a funny cameo as Topher Grace in 'Ocean's Twelve'. He confesses that he "phoned it in during that Dennis Quaid movie". Well, 'In Good Company' IS that Dennis Quaid movie, and Grace isn't exactly phoning anything in. Still, his performance never sings because the actor's unforced charm and mischievous spirit are always being held back by the tight-ass role. The character (Carter Duryea, a lonely and in-over-his-head ad exec) is a drip and he can barely find a way to enjoy his workaholic lifestyle. He's a rich dude with no idea what to do with his life.

On the other hand, Dan Foreman (Quaid) has a good thing going and he knows it. He's a caring dad, a loyal husband, and he's even a decent man in his cutthroat job. Dan cares about people, sometimes too much. It's a kick in the head when his company is bought out, employees are fired, and he's demoted...with the boy half his age (Grace, natch) taking over as head of sales. Carter has recently divorced his gloomy wife (a sulking Selma Blair) and the friendless youngster leeches onto the Foreman family, quickly making sweet eyes with Dan's daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson). None of this is as funny or even as dramatic as it could be, but Quaid does an effective slow burn and shows some occasional energy while his 20s-ish co-stars are a pleasant match.

Writer/director Paul Weitz ('American Pie', 'About A Boy') doesn't give his film much saucy zing, although he IS adept at sledgehammering us on the head about the father/son dynamic and other "corporations need to care more about people" themes. He basically uses Marg Helgenberger and Zena Grey (playing Quaid's wife and youngest daughter) as pretty little props. Heck, Philip Baker Hall's name in the credits was reason enough to expect an acting clinic, but even he didn't register as more than a two-scene blip. And the director uses insanely tight close-ups much too often. Boo for all that.

Weitz certainly isn't a hack, though. He and his brother, Chris, were skilled enough to make a teen sex romp (famous for its apple pie) into a sweet story about real kids. And they used Hugh Grant better than anyone else ever has, creating a character for him who's an unlikably likable guy. Then again, the worst thing in 'About A Boy' was when they tried to get all moral on us about how Grant's hedonistic lifestyle couldn't continue or he'd spontaneously combust or something. Ah crap, they've gone down the preachy path again. Even when their past movies got a little warm & fuzzy, they were still funny and a bit zany. 'In Good Company' is just too flaccid for its own good. It's certainly not edited as ruthlessly as it should have been. I started to wonder when it was going to end, then felt surprised with the way it did.

Not that you'll be bored. Dennis Quaid wouldn't let that happen. His take on Dan leans a little too far toward Mr. Perfect, yet he's clearly coming a bit unglued as he goes through a work-induced mid-life crisis. He's got a like/hate thing going with Carter, a kid with a bright future and no sense of how to sell ad space in a magazine to real, live adults. [There's an "advertising is all about the common touch" theme you won't miss because it's shoved hard in your face.] It would unnerve any man when the hotshot who just took his office and his job is now trying to take his daughter too. Perhaps Dan is disappointed because his wife is too busy with the upcoming birth of an unplanned baby to bother having a single conversation with either of her daughters.

Let's be fair, though, and talk about some of the pleasures. The entire project has a respectable, inoffensive vibe. Plus, I enjoyed the way an unbilled Malcolm McDowell tongues his cheek in a cameo as the jackass Big Boss. He did the same thing better in 'The Company', but no matter. David Paymer---trying like hell to keep both his dignity and his job with the company---plays the long-suffering sad-sack as well as anyone. [He was doing it so effectively here, I wondered when Mr. Saturday Night was going to waltz in and start insulting people.] Topping all that for grins, though, is Quaid in a hilarious scene on the basketball court. What happens to him reminded me of the hysterical volleyball scene in 'Meet The Parents' (when Stiller power-spikes the ball into his girlfriend's sister's face). Nothing like a sports injury to give the entire audience a reason to LOL.

I guess I'm bummed because Hollywood---that honourable, people-first fun factory---doesn't let anybody just be a corporate whore anymore. You must be saved before your Lucifer claims your soul or by the time the movie is over, whichever inevitability comes first. That way, lessons can be learned, friends to the end, drinks on the lawn. The final act dishes out some unrealistic poetic justice, which seems to be a pick-me-up for those of us who drone it out for a massive company. It sets up a nice comeuppance and it shoehorns a better ending than these characters would probably actually have in reality, but it makes the undemanding movie customers feel good.

So if you're a fan of these actors, go see 'In Good Company'. Otherwise, shell out for a DVD rental in a few months instead. Either way, guys like Carter will be happy to take your money. Good guys like Dan probably don't even exist anymore, so they can't keep you from spending your money so unwisely.
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