In Good Company (2004)

I turned on one of the movie channels just in time to catch most of the film In Good Company starring Dennis Quaid (Day After Tomorrow (2004)), Topher Grace (”That 70’s Show”), Marg Helgenberger (“C.S.I.”) and Scarlett Johansson (Island (2005)). With a cast like that, it would seem like it’d be something worth seeing, right? Wrong.

Don’t get me wrong – Dennis Quaid does a good job as usual, and Topher Grace manages to contribute a rather decent performance, as does Scarlett Johansson and (when she’s seen) Marg Helgenberger, so the trouble with the film isn’t the acting. It’s the rest of the film that seems rather pointless.

If you don’t already know, In Good Company is all about how Dennis Quaid gets a new boss – the much younger Topher Grace…and Topher takes an interest in Quaid’s daughter Scarlett Johansson. Supposedly, hilarity ensues. Unfortunately, in actuality, it doesn’t.

This movie doesn’t go anywhere. As Quaid basically kowtows to monetary pressures to stay in his now incredibly demeaning job working for a kid half his age, his new boss Topher deals with his loneliness at the top. Of course, Topher tries to buddy up to Quaid almost from the get-go, and Quaid can’t stand him much at all.

Then, after inviting himself over to Quaid’s house, Topher (who is going through a divorce) falls immediately for Quaid’s daughter Johansson (whose manly voice and rather ugly looks in this film make that seem highly questionable). As it happens, Johansson is about to go to NYU. On her own now, Johansson runs into Topher again, and they immediately go straight to bed (can you feel the love?).

And from there, you know Quaid’s going to eventually find out. Can he keep his cool or will he finally get enough of his degradement and stand up for his family?

By the end of the film, Quaid has his old job back, Topher’s wandering around searching for “meaning” in his life, and everybody hugs and makes up. It’s ridiculous. What did us the viewers get from sitting through this film? Nothing. It just turns out to be a ridiculous waste of time.

After all, what kind of story doesn’t change the characters in some way? Taking a snapshot from both where I stepped in early on in the film and the end, none of the characters has changed at all.

Quaid has his job back, Topher’s as ridiculously wealthy and stupid as ever, Scarlett is still as boyish and deep-voiced as ever. Marg is the only one whose changed, but it’s more physical (after all, she just had a kid).

Did the writers have some type of point they were trying to get across? Not that I could tell. Give me something that changes the characters somehow – maybe put Scarlett and Topher together at the end (although that’s been done so many times), or have Topher come back to be Quaid’s protege….something.

The way it is, a film like In Good Company is just a complete waste of time, no matter how decent the acting is.