When a movie is described as “heartwarming,” it is usually because the phrase “induces violent fits of projectile vomiting” doesn’t sell tickets.
However, there are exceptions. Last year’s “Garden State” defied the logic of cynics worldwide by being cute and popular, but still very intelligent and original. Director Paul Wietz’s film, “In Good Company,” is another recent sign of life in a usually bleak landscape of formulaic, feel-good films.
The commercials for “In Good Company” make the movie look like a love story, but it’s really about family, friendship and the hopelessness of life without those two things.
Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is the middle-aged head of ad sales for a major New York-based sports magazine until it is purchased by Globecom, the umbrella corporation of business mogul Teddy K. After 25 years in the position, Foreman is demoted to second in command when he is replaced by Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a synergy indoctrinated business school prodigy, who has only been alive a year longer than Foreman has held the position. At the same time, Foreman finds out that his wife is pregnant and his eldest daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson), has been accepted to NYU. As the financial pressures mount, Foreman is also forced to watch as his colleagues are laid off and his 26-year-old boss transforms the company into the “flagship” for Globecom.
Meanwhile, Duryea is trying to handle the pressures of his rapid success and a divorce from his
wife of seven months, as well as mounting resentment for the
corporate business world and an overwhelming sense of unhappiness. In a fit of loneliness, he invites himself to dinner where he meets Alex, whom he eventually falls in love with.
Complications arise in both the professional and personal aspects of Foreman’s life when he finds out that his daughter is sleeping with his boss, and that his job is in jeopardy for questioning Teddy K on a visit to the office.
The movie has all the potential to become a by-the-book happy ending. Rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy little bow, the movie actually concludes with a lot of loose ends.
This film is worth seeing for the ending alone, but it’s also fun to see Grace cross over from “That ’70s Show” to the big screen. There is definitely a lot of Eric Foreman in Carter Duryea, but he manages to provide a distinction nonetheless. Though it may not garner a cult following like “Garden State,” this film echoes the same kind of stylish, post-modern look at life, love and family with fewer of the usual clichés.

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