In good, certainly not great company

JOHN DEPKO

“In Good Company” begins as a politically correct satire of heartless

corporate America at work.

But it ends up as standard Hollywood fluff that will not be long

remembered by anyone.

Malcolm McDowell plays a business mogul in the mold of Rupert

Murdoch. His main purpose in life is to take over and destroy

competing companies regardless of the cost in human terms.

Dennis Quaid plays the middle-aged chief of advertising for a

sports magazine acquired by the evil corporation. Topher Grace is the

young Turk promoted to a high-paying position that suddenly makes him

Quaid’s boss. Scarlett Johansson is Quaid’s lovely daughter who

secretly begins to date her dad’s new boss.

The obvious tensions between all of them play out in the familiar

style of a TV sitcom. There’s good humor and some tension but no real

depth.

Johansson is great as always, but she’s only on screen for about

15 minutes. Grace is well-cast as the overly confident young man who

ends up way over his head in his new managerial job. But there’s only

so much he can do with the mild-mannered screenplay. Quaid is the

anchor that keeps this lightweight comedy from floating away into

peaceful oblivion. He brings a solid touch of reality to the core

issues that face his character. He’s the one who delivers the smiles

that give this quiet film its reason for being.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.