Stars: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johansson

Director: Paul Weitz

Summary: 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.

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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 Dave Foreman (Dennis Quaid) finds himself playing second-in-command to Carter Duryea, a hotshot barely half his age (Topher Grace) whose marriage has just fallen apart. One evening Carter invites himself over to Dave's house to escape his loneliness, where he meets Dave's daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson). The two strike immediate sparks and when they run into each other later in the city, a relationship begins--which they discreetly keep from Dave. But the heart of the movie is not in its plot, but in the way that Dave 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 Dave 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 Companyisn'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, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	SYNERGY Featurettes, Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Paul Weitz, Feature Commentary With Paul Weitz And Dennis Quaid And Topher Grace, Cast And Filmmakers
Year:	2004
Release Date:	June 20, 2005
Runtime:	106 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	E D V 9290
Keywords:	Comedy, Company, General, Good
Genre:	Comedy