|
I've very much been looking forward to this movie. I'm
frankly not sure why. Something about the combination of
factors that brought it together. Paul Weitz,
writer/director of the film, has been causing quite a stir
lately, opening (and closing) a critically hailed play, Russian
Roulette off Broadway, and seeming much more of an intellectual
than a casual glance at his and his brother's American Pie
movies told. A more than casual glance, however, if one
were to ignore large parts of the second and third ones, showed
a keen awareness of the human condition. We got this sent
home to us with his excellent adaptation of Nick Hornby's About
a Boy. |
|
|
In Good Company is a full study of laughter
and the human condition. Literally laugh-out-loud
funny at points, the film also hurts a great deal.
Quaid is allowed to create a man, a real man, mind you,
whose ego and more is on the line, and who is more worried
about the more, than his ego... though it too is a major
factor. Faced with the difficult scenario of being
demoted in a corporate buy-out and having his boss be
literally half his age, while his wife is unexpectedly
pregnant at home, and his older daughter is wanting to
transfer from SUNY to NYU, the only way this film could work
for it's whole running time, is indeed for his character to
be a wholly rounded individual. And not the cardboard
cutout of the disenfranchised, out-going generation.
Quaid does this brilliantly. One of his top
performances. The other side of the equation
is Topher Grace's character. (Topher, by the way, is
short for Christopher. I just found this out, and
thought you might want to know.) Topher Grace has been
causing something of the proverbial buzz in Hollywood, and
this movie was said to be his breakout. Not being a
big TV watcher, I have only caught glimpses of his That 70's
Show performances. I like the show and think it's
funny when I catch it. The fact is, they were right.
While I didn't see his debut on the big screen, Win a Date
with Tad Hamilton, Grace impressed the hell out of me with
this film. Finally, we have Scarlett "She's
beautiful to me and I'm not sure why" Johannsan. I was
converted forever with her heartbreaking portrayal in the
astounding Lost in Translation. Again, she has me at
her first line. Not as major a character as the
previews might make you think, her time on-screen, however,
holds the center of the movie in it's palm. She is
un-doer of both male leads, and always innocently, and for
their best. She is the balance that quietly makes
itself known without anyone knowing it has, the motivation
that clears it all up, even as it complicates it. She
is brilliant. With these three leads in
place, Paul Weitz has himself a cast perfect to act out his
brilliant original script. What a movie. From
all the supporting players to a completely unobtrusive
camera, In Good Company is a vision into story that happens
often enough with characters so dynamic you will not only
believe anything they do, but so well acted that you will
support it. The movie is hysterical at parts,
literally moving in your seat funny. At other times
you'll feel so deeply for the characters you'll have to look
away. In Good Company is a truly fantastic
film, one that I wish Dennis Quaid would have been
recognized by the academy for. Go see it; it's worth
the cost of admission, even these days. |
