Review: In Good Company

I will get my disclaimer out of the way. I was given free passes for this movie, with the marketing company's hope that I might give some positive feedback about the movie, In Good Company. Well their plan worked, I saw the movie and I loved it. This is a movie about work, relationships, and family and how they are all mixed together. I found myself thinking throughout the movie about how few movies there are that examine the world of work. Most of us spend at least eight hours a day working, but rarely do we address it in our movies and literature. In a way that isn't surprising, most of us want to spend as little time thinking about work (especially when we aren't at work).

I loved the way this film acknowledged how work has a way of messing up our lives and our families. This is the film about a young man, Carter Duryear (played fantastically by That 70's show's, Topher Grace) who has devoted all of his life's energy to climbing the corporate ladder and gaining more power and status. His rise to the top has given Carter the distinction for being the first divorced member of his high school class because he has put zero energy into his relationship with his wife.

The film is also about a middle aged man, Dan Foreman (played wonderfully by Dennis Quaid), who barely clings to his job because he wants to provide for his family. He believes in what he does for a living, but he also knows it is only a job--it is his family that matters.

The paths of Carter and Dan cross when Carter becomes Dan's boss. There is the problem of Dan working for someone who is 30 years his junior. It is only complicated when Carter becomes romantically involved with Dan's daughter, Alex (played fantastically by the beautifully large lipped, Scarlett Johannson).

Both my wife and I were in cranky moods before we went into the movie, and both of us left smiling. That's a pretty good statement for a movie don't you think?

Did the movie have any faults, not many other than the fact that Scarlett Johannson should have been in every scene, but then that would have taken away from the great chemistry between Quaid and Grace. The movie wraps itself up a little too neatly at the end, but that's ok because sometimes a happy ending is a good thing (especially when its not the overly predictable happy ending).

Go see this movie! You will be glad you did.