Review of Working Girls (1987) by Spangle — 14 Feb 2017

No film with those lines of dialogue could actually be good. Working Girl does not buck the trends and is a cookie cutter romance with my least favorite narrative cliche in the history of humanity. Yet, far too many films seem to think it works. This film may be fun for many, but it just aggravated me to no end and made me desperate to shut it off. The film is incredibly well-written, even if it is cliche ridden and director Mike Nichols allows the film to successfully follow cliches, always remaining relatively palatable in the face of its annoying plot conventions. Oh and of course the bad dialogue that clearly served as inspiration for Melanie Griffith's daughter Dakota Johnson to say the bad dialogue in Fifty Shades of Grey with confidence because, hell, her mom got an Oscar nomination for the same lines.

Featuring a woman beat down by the system, Tess McGill (Griffith), her goofy friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack), and her **** boss Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), the film's plot is kicked off when Katharine breaks her leg. Having previously pitched an idea to Katharine regarding a possible merger path for a client of their investment firm, Tess - a lowly secretary - learns that Katharine planned to steal the idea and send it off to boyfriend Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) to bring it home. Well, Tess decides to pose as a tried and true professional in the mergers and acquisitions game, falls in love with Jack, and hides her lies from everybody with the help of Cynthia. You will never guess what happens in the middle though. She almost tells Jack the truth! In the midst of telling him (leading off with, "I have to tell you something"), he gets a phone call to distract him, and then he turns to her and says, "What did you want to tell me?" Later, he learns when Katharine bursts into the big merger meeting where Tess' deal is set to go through and is initially hurt, but quickly gets over it and loves her anyways. Even better, the big client - after Katharine fires Tess - offers Tess a job and gets Katharine fired for stealing the idea from Tess. Is this not just the most upliftingly original plot you have ever heard? No spoiler tags either. I implore you read that past paragraph because it does not spoil anything. If you have seen any romantic comedy, you have seen this plot play out before. It is a shame to see Nichols stuck with such annoyingly derivative material.

That said, he does well with it. Thanks to Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, Working Girl nearly comes off. Joan Cusack is annoying here as a loud obnoxious cliche, but all the same, the film nearly gets home. It is quite cute and the ending underscores that when Jack and Tess finally get to be together with no lies between them. But, man did I wish I had read a plot summary beforehand. I will never like a film with this plot. Hell, I hated Some Like It Hot - a classic - for the very same reason. These films where a character misrepresents who they are just leave me agitated and waiting for the same cliched plot to play out where they get exposed, get some egg on their face, but then the people they hid it from do not really care in the end. It is a plot with no tension because it has been played out so much, so it befuddles me to no end to see it constantly played out.

That said, Nichols does write the film quite well. It is cliched throughout, but it does hit all the cliches. The fact it almost works shows that the cliches have some merit, even if it worn out. It is a perfect example of this kind of film, so it is no surprise to see it well received critically. It is a film that is cliche ridden, but has so much bubbly energy from its leads that it masks many of these cliches and, where it does not, the cliches hit sweet notes, though familiar.

Working Girl may be a good film. It did receive a Best Picture nomination. But, its cliched plot is one that simply is not up my alley. It just causes me unnecessary aggravation due to the tediously nature of this particular set of cliches and the prototypical story that ensues. That said, the film does embody the cliches perfectly and for those that enjoy this type of storyline, it will appeal greatly. The acting, particularly from Griffith, is quite good and rise above the derivative material and corny dialogue.