Movies
In Good Company
A new spin on the old boss's-daughter romance. And not just new, but contemporary, up-to-date, timely, topical. The romancer is now the boss himself -- a fast-track junior executive fresh out of business school and still wet behind the ears -- and the daughter's father is now the romancer's underling, an old-school backslapping glad-handing salesman twice his boss's age. The relationship with the college-age daughter really takes a backseat to the relationship between the men: "I think you have the potential," the pipsqueak throws a bone to the graybeard, "to be an awesome wingman here." Dennis Quaid seems a touch heavy for comedy, or for drama, either, come to that, but he makes sure you always clearly understand his position. Topher Grace, a shade too nice and naive to have climbed so far so fast, still too much the hometown boy of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, has scads of charm, albeit of an overpracticed, unctuous, sitcommy type. And the alabaster-complected Scarlett Johansson keeps her lips inflated and her waist whittled, the very model of the Girl Next Door down at Androids R Us. The direction by Paul Weitz, who also wrote the smart script, shows abundant evidence of a mind at work, making connections, drawing parallels, placing emphasis, finding significance. He had a long way to go to live down American Pie and Down to Earth, but if About a Boy took a step in the right direction, this one has earned him a fresh start. Marg Helgenberger, David Paymer, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell. 2005.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG-13
