In Good Company

The romantic-comedy minefield is a tough one to negotiate. Avoiding hazards of convention and easy humor in favor of probing looks at love and laughs, most movies in the genre explode long before they finish. Which is why In Good Company ranked among the least deserving of last year's unfortunate fourth quarter casualties. Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid are reason enough to see a movie but director Paul Weitz's measured approach to romantic comedy made this an end-of-year triumph and it proves to be an undiscovered treasure on DVD.

Grace plays the unfortunately-named Carter Duryea, a hotshot exec who, at the age of 26, is asked to take over a huge department at an advertising agency. In the process, he becomes boss to elder statesmen like Dan Foreman (Quaid). The generation gap notwithstanding, this pair soon become friends. That is, until Carter starts wooing Dan's daughter, Alex (Scarlet Johansson).

Further plot details aren't necessary, it's the intergenerational play between Quaid and Grace that makes this movie's engine hum. But what proves to be the film's only major shortcoming is its inconsistent fealty to rom-com formula. That said, Weitz gives just enough screen time to the young lovers that we want to see them end up together, happily ever after, as the rest of the film seems content to mete out justice according to its appropriately old-school sense of morality (much less storytelling).

The film's original title was Synergy, which explains why the bonus materials are framed around the word in some loose semblance of continuity. Featurettes dote on the actors, locations, and real-life parallels but signify little in terms of in-depth exploration of the film's themes. At the same time, an assembly of deleted scenes add depth to the characters' respective dilemmas, including a particularly funny sequence where Quaid attempts unsuccessfully to dye his hair before a board meeting.

Additionally, the In Good Company DVD includes a commentary track with Topher Grace and director Weitz. However, unlike many of its December competitors now finding their way onto home video (including epics like The Aviator), this is a film that largely speaks for itself and requires little footnoting or explanation.

So, if you start to get bored with summer's substandard releases or tire of DVD tomes that need a road map, rent or buy In Good Company. It's a well-timed release that, no matter how young or old you are, teaches you how to do your business, both in the boardroom and the bedroom. -- Todd Gilchrist