Nowadays it's rare to find a movie that pays attention to human weakness as well as strength, and that sees a whole person as having both. When a sports magazine gets bought by a media conglomerate, an ad sales executive named Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid, The Rookie) finds himself playing second-in-command to Carter Duryea, a hotshot barely half his age (Topher Grace, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!) whose marriage has just fallen apart. One evening Carter invites himself over to Dan's house to escape his loneliness, where he meets Dan's daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation). The two strike immediate sparks and when they run into each other later in the city, a relationship begins--which they discreetly keep from Dan. But the heart of the movie is not in its plot, but in the way that Dan responds to the news that his wife is pregnant, or how Carter tries to fortify his self-image with a new car. These aren't jokes; the actors inhabit these moments fully and turn them into psychological events. Quaid plays Dan as a simple man, but his straightforwardness feels genuine (rather than a failure of the writer's imagination). Grace and Johansson have terrific chemistry as lovers, but so do Grace and Quaid, both as rivals and as a substitute father and son. In Good Company isn't likely to win any awards, but it's honest and honorable; there's a core of truth to its characters and their problems aren't resolved too neatly. Sometimes, that's worth watching. --Bret Fetzer
(47 votes)
2.
In his previous effort, ABOUT A BOY, writer-director Paul Weitz managed to smoothly blend elements of dark comedy with heartwarming drama to deftly undercut both of the genre's undesirable excesses. IN GOOD COMPANY is Weitz's solo directorial debut sans his brother Chris, with whom he co-helmed the aforementioned BOY and the wildly successful AMERICAN PIE series. Here, he perfects his gift for the so-called "dramedy," softening the jagged, sometimes ugly edges of corporate satire with warmth and sentiment.
Dennis Quaid is perfectly cast as Dan Foreman, a slightly weary yet still dashing advertising boss and dedicated family man. He seems to have it all as a wholesome and admirable father, an existence which smacks of the archetypical mid-century sitcom dad that he so brilliantly portrayed as the secretly homosexual husband-father in Todd Haynes' FAR FROM HEAVEN. Enter Carter Duryea (THAT 70s SHOW's Topher Grace), a cocky young upstart hired to replace him. Before long, Dan is forced to be deferential to his new baby-faced boss, not only in the office but also at his own dinner table when Dan begins dating his lovely daughter Alex (Scarlett Johanssen). This old-fashioned, slightly soap-operatic twist is the perfect catalyst for the integration of humanity into an environment (and cinematic genre) that is so often devoid of it, and the film simultaneously lightens in spirit and deepens in emotion as a slow-yet-sure, father-and-son bond develops between the former adversaries.
(47 votes)
3.
Dan Foreman (DENNIS QUAID) is 51 and his life is good…on the whole. The long-term head of ad sales at the weekly Sports America has just celebrated the magazine’s biggest year, thanks in large part to Dan’s warm, honest, handshake deal style and the departmental esprit de corps he fosters. Even the news of his wife’s unexpected pregnancy and the acceptance of his eldest daughter, Alex (SCARLETT JOHANSSON), into tony (not to mention expensive) NYU leave Dan happy, though not entirely unconcerned about family finances—but he will, as he always has, manage.
Carter Duryea (TOPHER GRACE) is 26 and thinks his life is awesome, mostly.
The whiz kid has been devoting himself single-mindedly to getting ahead at the multinational conglomerate Globecom. Management even knows his name—Carter is being “groomed” for his next rung on the corporate ladder: heading up ad sales at one of the cornerstone publications newly acquired by Globecom in their latest takeover, the magazine Sports America. Unfortunately for Carter, his promotion coincides with the crumbling of his seven-month marriage and he has no one, save a pet fish, to share his joy with. But he knows he’s on his way, he’s going places—and he’ll manage.
Dan’s exasperation at his demotion is nothing compared to his incredulity at being replaced by the 26-year-old Carter. Given his new boss’ age and relative experience in ad sales (none), Dan has little desire to be Carter’s “wing man.” But in light of the new developments at home, he needs his job as much as Carter needs his. Forging a tenuous relationship out of corporate necessity, the two begin working together to meet Globecom’s mandate of cutting the department’s budget while increasing revenue by 35 percent.
Carter’s zeal to deliver to upper management doesn’t win him many fans in the Sports America offices. His bottom line focused approach, somewhat lacking in the human side of business, is often at odds with Dan and his devotion to his staff. As Dan sees it, these people are a family—something Carter is sorely lacking. The new department head’s loneliness even prompts him to call a Sunday staff meeting and then invite himself to Dan’s home for dinner with the Foremans, where Carter and Alex have a chance to talk while Alex whoops her dad’s boss at foosball.
Later, when the lonely ad salesman runs across the equally lonely NYU transfer student at a Manhattan cafe, the chance meeting rekindles the sparks initially felt at the family dinner…sparks that begin an affair, which the pair find themselves hiding from Dan. The corporate handbook has precious little to say about sleeping with your employee’s collegiate daughter and if word were ever to get out, news of their affair would seriously threaten Carter’s détente with Dan, Alex’s close relationship with her father and the progress the two salesmen have made at Sports America.
All in all, life for both Dan and Carter just got a bit more complicated.
(46 votes)
4.
Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a loving husband, caring father and star ad executive. But now, life is putting him through the ultimate test. Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a young hotshot half his age, has just become his boss. And to complicate matters, Dan discovers Carter is dating his daughter (Scarlett Johansson).
It's filled with genuine laughs and you're in good company when you watch this entertaining comedy that Rolling Stone calls "hilarious."
(43 votes)
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