REVIEWED - IN GOOD COMPANY: Director Paul Weitz, who, with his brother Chris, did such good work on About a Boy, revisits some of the themes of that movie in this superbly acted but ultimately rather compromised comedy of the workplace, writes Donald Clarke
Dennis Quaid, revisiting the storybook working stiff he created for Far From Heaven (but without the homosexuality or the petulance), plays the head of advertising sales at a sports magazine that has just been bought by an evil multinational named - wait for it - Globecom.
That malign conglomerate's CEO, a Bond villain played in one gear by an uncredited Malcom McDowell, appoints young Topher Grace, this generation's Benjamin Braddock, as Quaid's boss. As if it were not troubling enough to be ordered around by someone (quite literally) half his age, Quaid then has to watch as the young tyro, pausing between sackings, falls in love with his daughter (Scarlett Johansson).
There is a nice little narrative knot here, and the three leads do tremendous work in turning roles that could have been ciphers into fleshy humans. Grace in particular, having successfully graduated from being the guy on That '70s Show to the guy in the periphery of Stephen Soderbergh's pictures, emerges as a real star with his portrayal of a half-man prematurely burdened with discomforting responsibilities.
Sadly, it falls apart a bit at the close. A fine scene midway through, in which Quaid and a valued client find decisions being taken out of their hands by squabbling parent companies, makes some telling points about globalisation. Later, however, the sinister McDowell undoes that good work by a delivering a speech, which, with the addition of the odd cackle and the threat of a strangled puppy, could have come out of the mouth of The Simpsons' Mr Burns.
Still, rapacious and soulless as Globecom is, it proves to be no match for the demands of mainstream movie structuring and, though there is a poignant twist, the picture ends far too cosily.
