During every year-end holiday season, there’s a film or two or three that’s aimed at critics and awards but somehow fails to get the attention that is lavished on such headline-hugging disappointments as “Spanglish” or “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Such is the case with “In Good Company,” a marvelous little comedy that was titled, until quite recently, “Synergy.” Neither title is likely to cause a rush to the box office; nor is the fact that the picture is being released during the last weekend of the year, almost as a holiday afterthought.
It also doesn’t help that the film’s star, Dennis Quaid, is competing with himself in a Christmas-season misfire (“Flight of the Phoenix”), or that his up-and-coming co-stars, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson, are somewhat overexposed in other year-end releases (Grace in “P.S.” and “Ocean’s Twelve,” Johansson in “A Love Song for Bobby Long” and “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”).
Nevertheless, “In Good Company” is good enough to wipe out any painful memories those movies may evoke. Wise and funny and even rather inspiring in its way, it’s a solo effort from writer-director Paul Weitz, who shared an Oscar nomination with his brother, Chris, for co-writing the Hugh Grant comedy, “About a Boy.”
As in “About a Boy,” an unlikely form of male bonding drives the story. Quaid plays Dan Foreman, a savvy 51-year-old advertising salesman for a sports magazine. When the publication is bought out in a merger, Foreman is assigned a 26-year-old new boss, Carter Duryea (Grace), who knows little about the business he’s been asked to run.
Inevitably they clash at work, though it’s their personal problems that gradually dominate their relationship. Foreman needs to hang on to his job; his wife Ann (Marg Helgenberger) is suddenly pregnant and he’s obliged to pay college fees for his teenaged daughter Alex (Johansson).
Duryea’s wife is divorcing him. He’s so stressed out that he invites himself to dinner at Foreman’s home, where he gets to know Alex. An affair begins, though the new boss tries to keep it a secret. Of course this leads to complications, especially as Duryea and Foreman drop their competitive edge and start to learn from each other.
This setup may seem contrived at times, but it lends tension to the film’s second half, which needs something boiling beneath the surface. It also gives the actors, especially Grace, the opportunity to play genuinely conflicted characters. At the same time he’s becoming friends with Foreman and learning the business from him, he’s hiding the truth about Alex.
The nicely tentative ending is based on what we’ve come to know about these characters, and how they will react in a crisis. Under Weiss’ assured direction, the three leads couldn’t be more convincing. Quaid effortlessly suggests a demoted veteran’s seen-it-all temperament. Johansson is believably uncertain as a girl who finds herself a little overwhelmed, while Grace is alternately sincere and exasperating as the failed hotshot who does much of the overwhelming.