Movie Review: In Good Company (2004)

A romantic comedy with a backdrop of whirlwind corporate politics, In Good Company competently delivers all the necessary ingredients for harmless entertainment without shining in any of them.

In New York, Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is the middle-aged head of the advertising team at leading magazine Sports America. Dan is happily married to Ann (Marg Helgenberger), and the father of two daughters including Alex (Scarlett Johansson). With Ann unexpectedly announcing  she is pregnant again and Alex heading off to NYU, financial pressures are mounting.

At work, a corporate takeover turns Dan's life upside down. He is demoted and asked to report to 26 year old Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a smug young executive on the fast-track to success. Team layoffs and cutbacks follow, with Dan toiling to adapt to a boss half his age. But Carter himself is also struggling, unsure of what he is doing and with his marriage crumbling. Things get a lot more complicated when Carter and Alex start an intense relationship behind Dan's back.

Directed and written by Paul Weitz, In Good Company is a modestly successful lightweight comedy. A romance mixed with middle-age angst and company intrigue, plenty is going on at any one time, and Weitz invests enough in the characters of Dan, Carter and Alex to keep things interesting. Sparkling New York City locations and plenty of supporting characters provide depth and animation in the corners.

The story is more engaging than expected thanks to Dan and Carter being provided with an almost equal opportunity to occupy centre stage. Carter could have been relegated to a snotty and obnoxious young boss parachuted in by the new corporate parents, and indeed he starts off as just that. But Weitz is also interested in delving into the psyche of a young man and the insecurities eating away at his seemingly perfect life, and In Good Company is a much better movie for it.

Carter builds a romantic relationship with Alex but also, slowly, a working relationship with Dan, and gets to see corporate life from a new perspective. Meanwhile Dan is dealing with too many new things at once, and the film's wackiness and comic moments are derived from the sheer number of simultaneous crises that can be flung at one man.

The performances are steady without being spectacular, Quaid and Grace playing off each other as unlikely older guy-younger upstart competitor-buddies. Johansson, one year on from Lost In Translation, sticks closer to serious tones as a young woman tolerating her father's insecurities. David Paymer, Selma Blair, Philip Baker Hall and an uncredited Malcolm McDowell round out the cast.

In Good Company blows kisses up and down the corporate ladder, delivering a breezy attitude but not a lasting impression.

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Movie Review: Erin Brockovich (2000)

Based on a true story, Erin Brockovich is a stirring drama about two struggles: one woman fights to redefine herself, and one suffering community takes on a big corporate polluter.

In the Los Angeles area, Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is twice divorced and trying to raise three kids on her own. Desperate to find employment, she finally lands a filing clerk position at the ramshackle office of lawyer Edward Masry (Albert Finney) after he fails to secure compensation for her in a car accident case. At Masry's office Erin stumbles onto files related to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the small community of Hinkley. PG&E is attempting to quietly purchase the houses of many residents who appear to be suffering from various serious health ailments.

Erin takes it upon herself to personally investigate the case, and meets Donna Jensen (Marg Helgenberger) and her family to better understand their plight. She spends days digging up records at the local water authority office, and pieces together a soil and water contamination cover-up involving the dangerous chemical hexavalent chromium. Erin's personal, down-to-earth approach allows her to connect with more than 600 potential victims as the ramifications of the case grow into hundreds of millions of dollars, but all the hours at work are taking a toll on Erin's children and her latest boyfriend, next-door biker George (Aaron Eckhart).

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, Erin Brockovich is a classic David versus Goliath story multiplied by two. Erin bulldozing her way into a respectable career against all odds plays out next to her efforts to win compensation for a tiny community from a behemoth corporation. Soderbergh makes both stories work in an engaging narrative that balances the deeply personal aspects of Erin's story with a high-stakes investigative drama about environmental maleficence.

The character of Erin is a huge part of the film's charm. Clobbered by life ever since she won a local beauty pageant, Erin has reached the stage of fighting back, and loudly. Unloading with profanity-laced tirades whenever she senses her rights being wronged, Erin is at once irrepressible, approachable and thorny. Insisting at all times on big hair, small skirts, uncomfortably high heels and either tight or transparent cleavage-revealing tops, the one thing she now refuses to do is fade away. Her scrappy attitude, persistence and street smarts make for a potent combination.

Julia Roberts brings Erin to life in an Academy Award winning performance. Roberts is not about one highlight scene or revealing profound depths of character. Rather, over the two hours of running time her portrayal focuses on capturing a real and uncompromising woman with all her faults, fears, strengths, and spirit. She dominates the film and never dips into sentimentality or victimhood.

Albert Finney provides the perfect foil as the veteran lawyer Edward Masry. Finney allows Masry to be Erin's opposing force, absorbing plenty of her flack and firing back with no shortage of his own understated venom. The two gradually work their way to becoming a formidable duo, her energy and his experience gelling into a powerful team.

The investigation into the soil and water contamination mystery remains admirably grounded in facts and legal process. Erin's truth-seeking efforts consist of unglamorous digging through files in government offices coupled with finding then talking to the victims to learn their affecting stories of disease and suffering. Gradually insiders and informers also step forward to provide key puzzle pieces. Soderbergh constructs the process of connecting the dots with a welcome pragmatism and avoids needless theatrics.

In keeping with the film's focus on reality, most of the tension comes from Erin trying to hold her personal life together as the case consumes every waking hour. Her relationship with her children suffers, and boyfriend George is reduced to an unhappy babysitter. Balancing kids, career and partner becomes a daring juggling act.

Erin Brockovich is a compelling drama about the individual and the collective, engaged in a common fight for recognition and respect.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of Marg Helgenberger

All movies starring Marg Helgenberger and reviewed on the Ace Black Blog are linked below:

Tootsie (1982)

Always (1989)

Bad Boys (1995)

Species (1995)

Erin Brockovitch (2000)

In Good Company (2004)

Mr. Brooks (2007)

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.
The Index of Movie Stars is here.