In Good Company is a 2004 film written and directed by Paul Weitz, the co-director of About a Boy. Dan Foreman (played by Dennis Quaid) is an advertisement sales executive at a top publication when a corporate takeover results in him being placed under supervisor Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), who is half his age. Matters are made worse when Dan's new supervisor becomes romantically involved with Dan's daughter, the beautiful 18 year-old college student Alex (Scarlett Johansson). Rather than a romantic comedy with the plot focusing on the relationship between Carter and Alex, the movie is better described as a drama--in fact, Alex and Carter are only romantically involved for about half of the film, getting together after the film begins and separating before the film's ending. Central to the story is instead the effects that the corporate takeover has on the lives of Dan Foreman and his family, and how Carter Duryea's life is changed based on his experiences with Foreman and his daughter Alex. The film ends with the restoration of the situational "status quo," Dan recovering his job after another corporate takeover removes Carter from his position. One of the important themes in the movie is the presence of the "hostile corporate environment," with many supporting characters being riffed or laid off as a result of cutbacks. |