"In Good Company," the first solo project of Paul Weitz (of "American Pie" fame), is part satire, part coming-of-age story. Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) comes to work one morning to discover the company he works for, Sports America, has been purchased by a conglomerate that ranges from computers to media outlets.
Foreman has been working on convincing a big client to buy some ad space and, it seems, is having more success than ever.
Yet, he discovers he has been replaced by Carter Duryea (Topher Grace, who has great comedic timing), a young hot shot with no experience in ad sales. Duryea immediately attaches himself to Foreman, as he discovers that Dan is the only person who will tell him what he actually thinks.
Duryea begins a romantic relationship with Foreman's daughter (Scarlett Johansson) while Dan deals with being a bottom-line thinker and seeing much of the staff he hired disappear. As we discover more about one staffer's personal life (character actor David Paymer, who is perhaps the most important character in the movie), we see the effects of corporate policy on the everyman.
Meanwhile, his wife (Marg Helgenberger, who is flawless) is pregnant, and his daughter is heading to NYU.
The film soon progresses through a series of events that awaken all of the characters in the movie, and the ending, while not formulaic, is perhaps too sugary-sweet for viewers hoping for a darker view -- but that would go against what Weitz (co-director of "American Pie" and "About a Boy") stands for.
In the year of coming-of-age films ("Sideways," "Eternal Sunshine" and "Garden State" being the best three), this one falls short of the standards set by those movies and features but has an acceptable, although predictable, soundtrack including The Shins, Iron & Wine, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and climaxed by Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill."
This movie does one thing the previous three do not: It manages to show growth in all of the characters involved, which is a rare accomplishment.
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