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Laramie Movie Scope:
In Good Company

Smarter than average romantic comedy

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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January 15, 2005 -- “In Good Company” is a smarter-than-average romantic comedy with an unpredictable plot and good performances. There are no flatulence jokes in this one. Juvenile humor, refreshingly, is absent. It is peopled almost entirely by smart people, who happen to be adults, who actually act like adults. What a concept!

Dennis Quaid stars as Dan Foreman, an advertising executive who finds himself pushed down the corporate ladder a notch when his company is bought out by a free-wheeling business tycoon, Teddy K (Malcolm McDowell). Teddy inserts his own henchmen to run the publishing company where Foreman works, even though they have no experience in the publishing business. Foreman loses his job at a sports magazine to Carter Duryea (Topher Grace of “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton”), a man half his age who has no experience in the job. At the same time, Foreman finds out his wife, Ann (Marg Helgenberger of “Erin Brockovich”) is pregnant and that his daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson of “Lost in Translation”) wants to attend an expensive college. This is when Foreman is faced with a new development which makes his life really complicated.

The interesting thing about the story is the relationship between Foreman and his young boss, Carter Duryea. Although Duryea starts out as an arrogant interloper, he gradually finds out there is a thing or two about life that he can learn from the older man. We also learn that his confidence is a front. He is actually scared to death that he is in over his head. Foreman, on the other hand is confident in his abilities, but has no confidence in his new corporate bosses to do the right thing. The two form an uneasy alliance out of necessity, but eventually they learn to respect each other.

The three main characters, Duryea, Foreman and Alex are fully explored in the film. We come to understand why each of them behaves the way they do. The comedy and romance in the film are driven by these characters. The plot does not follow a conventional path. There are some unexpected twists in the story. This is a better-than-average romantic comedy with great performances by Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson. There is also a nice supporting performance by Marg Helgenberger. Clark Gregg of “Spartan” turns in a deliciously evil performance as the heartless corporate henchman, Steckle. The film is expertly written and directed by Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”). This film rates a B.

For more information on this film, including the movie (the story, photo gallery, cast, crew and production notes, trailer, TV spots, film clips), downloads (e-cards, wallpapers, screensaver, AIM buddy icons), diversions (360-degree evaluation, get psyched, are you grounded), click on this link to the official home page of In Good Company.

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Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)