Movie: In Good Company

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Plot Overview

Fifty-one-year-old chief ad executive Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) of Waterman Publishing & its flag­ship magazine, “Sports America,” is bumped to “wing­man” by his 26-year-old new boss Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) when parent company GlobeCom Intl buys them up. Carter with his grandiose ideas is still wet behind the ears. He drives his new Porsche like a “Jackass,” treats his (soon to be ex-) wife Kimberly (Selma Blair) the same, and on the rebound taps his wing­man's daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) in her moment of weakness. But money can't buy happiness.

Ideology

Teddy K. (Malcolm McDowell) Globecom CEO has one overriding business “agenda” that for its part is valid enough but has tended to push other options aside. It's grouped with others in, (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”

(Prov. 30:25) “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” Young college student Alex studies to the exclusion of an active social life. Her friends think she's a lesbian, because she doesn't have a boy­friend. We see her by her­self “just reading” at Caffe Reggio. She's not going to pursue pro tennis, because she can't compete in that league, and she doesn't want to peak at 21. Instead, she has trans­ferred to NYU in creative writing with a second major in business—to have some­thing on the practical side. This girl has got her ducks in a row preparing for her future like those busy ants in the proverb.

(Prov. 30:26) “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” In our movie this wise move is applied to marriage when Carter asks: “Dan, you seem to have the perfect marriage. How do you do it?” He replies, “You just pick the right one to be in the fox­hole with, and then when you're out­side of the fox­hole, you keep your dick in your pants.” It has an ancillary application to business where Dan is hunkered down with a hard copy (magazine) publication that he believes in, and he doesn't try to branch out with gimmicks. His daughter is trying to be a writer, and his wife works at a book­store. Dan is conversant in sports. His clients are physical who'd get lost in some digital cloud.

(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” Here's the principle Teddy K. wants to exploit: forming ad hoc alliances with his other companies. He calls it, “synergy.” Another business example can be found in author Jonathan Kellerman:

“He went to San Quentin but that doesn't mean he stopped doing business, and Thalia being his out­side agent explains her real estate buys. Her early know­ledge about fore­closures and other bargains would have been perfect synergy. … ¶“Parlaying a cache of stolen jewelry into legal real estate purchases was Laundering 101. … ¶“[A] tax felon sitting on an illicit fortune risked discovery and confiscation. So he used Thalia as a shadow investor” (133, 146, 155.)

Teddy K. gives his own examples and illustrations. That these are incompatible with the sports magazine he has just acquired is intimated by the marriage analogy when Carter uses it with Alex. She replies, “But this isn't a fox­hole. It's a Porsche.” In the movie (perhaps to prove some­thing) Alex is fast. That contrasts with now divorced Carter's “sleazy, tawdry” wife “The Ice Princess” who was glacial with him, but not with other men. Alex's room­mate for her part was “only mildly, chemically unbalanced.” In this post­modern, demimonde world, one wonders if there are any damsels to be had whom one would do well to share the “foxhole” with. Similarly, it's doubtful any­thing would be gained by promiscuous alliances to the magazine … although Dan and Carter would make a synergetic pair.

(Prov. 30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.” Business can also profit with individual initiative and expansion into new territory. That's how Carter got his rep. He developed a way to expand their cell phone market into the under-five crowd who constituted < .05% of all cell phone users.

Production Values

“” (2004) was written and directed by Paul Weitz. It stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Scarlett Johans­son who all gave good performances. MPAA rated it PG–13 for some sexual content and drug references. A smattering of contemporary folk songs help set the mood. It's more a business drama than comedy or romance. There's a little some­thing in it for everyone. Some special feature deleted scenes are included that had to be cut for pacing and redundancy, but they're worth looking at.

Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation

This was an enjoyable middle-of-the-road picture where the new boss wasn't completely villainous, and the daughter off to college wasn't Miss Virtue. The dinosaur dad still had some life left in him, while the CEO had lessons to be learned. The sex scene was implied, but the con­fron­tation with Dad over it wasn't.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Decent action scene. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Special effects: Average special effects. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Kellerman, Jonathan. Heartbreak Hotel. Copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Kellerman. New York: Ballantine Books, 2017. Print.