Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson are all good enough in the film, it's just that the story, which seemed to have some potential, doesn't really play out into much of anything. At the start of the movie Dennis Quaid's character is a sales manager at a large sports magazine. The magazine is acquired by a large corporate conglomerate, headed by the enigmatic Teddy K., cameoed by Malcolm McDowell. Teddy K's crew of over-caffienated yuppies storm into Quaid's world, with Grace ending up as his immediately supervisor.
The layoffs begin immediately, with Quaid sure that as management he's on the block, but Grace keeps him around 'cause he thinks he'd make a good "wing man." While Quaid's old cronnies hit the unemployment line, he adjusts to life with his new young boss bitterly. In an unlikely chain of events, Grace ends up having dinner at Quaid's house, wherein he meets Quaid's daughter played by Johansson. Sparks fly, and soon after she moves to New York to attend NYU, a full blown relationship develops.
The film lost me here. The level of irresponsibility required to shag an employee's family member seemed to contradict the premise that Grace would have gotten to the position he was in. And while I may be taking this a bit personally, I feel that in general the Grace character is treated like someone who just got to his position through sheer luck and well-timed brown nosing, without any actual talent. Quaid's character is the wiseman of the film, seeing through the corporate sham propogated by Teddy K. and, unlike Teddy K.'s posse of hotshots, survives the mess that comes when Teddy K. cashes in and sells to a bigger conglomerate. It should be noted that Quaid continues in the job in what must also be life at another corporate sham.
My expectation going into the film was to see a story where two people learned from each other, despite a gap in age and an awkward scenario. What we really just get is a story about how a young whipersnapper is put in his rightful place beneath the old guy. Additionally, while I felt it was wrong in the first place, the love story between Grace and Johansson is extremely unsatisfying, as it ends when daddy finds out and just fizzles away in the story. One might have expected daddy to realize Grace isn't such a bad guy and accept the pairing, or some other plotline that would have given a more interesting resolution to the matter.
One might say that I am condeming "In Good Company" for not being formulaic. My reply to that is that I am condeming it for being nothing. You don't have to tell a formula story, but you do need to tell a story that satisfies. Though it is well-acted, "In Good Company" misses the mark.
2/5 Stars.
--Chris Kivlehan