Review of In Good Company (2008) by Kalel J — 05 Nov 2007

Coupling a poignant screenplay with smart direction, In Good Company alleviates itself from predictability into an intelligent, enjoyable, and emotional experience told through the situations of commercial coldness. The film exterior has a morose, almost downbeat tone as we trudge through stale depression with our characters, yet it's constant inflictions of subtle humour and social commentary make it stand out from it's genre.

With captivating wry smiles in awkward situations, the settings for the film act as a board with many scribbled notes of the corporate culture. The notion of societal evolution versus corporate benefit is etched to us on the screen through the inter-relationships of these characters and their lives in this ever changing world and it's industries. The presented concepts lay foundation to an analysis, and humourful provocation, of how business is growing more into an inhumane machine focused solely on monetary benefits without care for the workers who obtain said benefits.

In essence, In Good Company utilizes it's characters to fortify this backdrop of the corporate culture through the reflections of the hierarchy in business - the relationship between managerial positions and class workers - with a presented company that proves to be good indeed. Dennis Quaid steps into a role of the yesteryear - a man with a balance for work, family, friends and regular ideals, and a performance reflecting these traits with a comforting tenderness and striking dominating presence. Topher Grace suits up with the weight of the world on his character's shoulders, slumping and selling through work and life with an unknown, faded path ahead. A character embodying the prevalent changes in a profit hungry world, yet with lessons to learn from the harsh wisdoms of the past.

A morose level under depression can often be felt throughout the picture, as lives become easily destroyed due to the decisions of high end employers. But it is the humourful interjections throughout mirror-like scenes of authenticity throughout the relationships of love, knowledge, and friendship outside of the chilly office atmosphere that bring light to this otherwise dreary subject. The screenplay is often able to make the sad into the melancholic, which suits the picture beautifully. In Good Company is never meant to be a roaring pleasure of laughs, and never acts as a sweetener of romance, but rather delves into the real aspects of life through an everyday environment of this foodchain. The film is about synergy, and with a truth from it's departments that never try to outshine each other, In Good Company is a strangely touching and striking picture that breaks bounds while never entirely entering new grounds - and it works a treat.