In Good Company
While entertaining at times and well-performed, In Good Company is a cliche-ridden misstep from one of the brothers who made the far more sincere and funny About A Boy in 2002. Superfluous characters and a serious lack of understanding about business and capitalism undercuts what is supposed to be a feel-good, Capra-esque story of sticking to your principles and still coming out on top. Instead, the story gets bogged down in completely unnecessary romance between the protagonist's college-aged daughter and his new twenty-something boss. As if Dan (Quaid) didn't have enough to worry about when this executive man-child (Grace) showed up and stole his job as head of advertising for a sports magazine, now his wife is pregnant in her late-40s, a second mortgage to pay for his daughter's college education and no job security. That enough conflict for you?
Meanwhile, the magazine's new corporate overlords conduct business like they're running an abatoir, which is meant as an indictment of modern capitalism but comes off as comical in its misunderstanding of common business principles. Malcolm McDowell's clueless, buzzword spewing CEO (clearly meant to be Rupert Murdoch) is a fine example. Morons don't build mutlibillion-dollar empires, but according to this movie, these dummies are the backbone and the bane of capitalism. Brilliant.
- June 22, 2009
DVD Extras
Nothing terribly interesting here: a commentary track with Grace and Weitz which I wasn't about to watch the movie again to listen to; some deleted scenes; and two features about the making of the movie, neither of which put the film in any more reliable context.