In Good Company (2004)

Review by All Movie Guide
One wouldn't have thought so back when he made his scatological debut as the writer of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) and director of American Pie (1999), but comic filmmaker Paul Weitz can't help letting his good taste show. About a Boy (2002) awakened critics and viewers to the possibility that a storyteller of sophistication, class, and emotional maturity might be present, but most laid the credit at the feet of smart, funny novelist Nick Hornby, upon whose novel the film was based. With In Good Company (2004), Weitz proves with an original project that a brain and a funny bone can coexist in one artist. That's an uncertain premise in an era when only the most tepid, cretinous comedies succeed at the box office, when even Woody Allen films play like bad mid-season sitcom pilots. Weitz's script abounds with sharp dialogue, scrupulous character development, and observant, trenchant inquiry into the battles between genders, generations, and the inner conflict that exists within anyone forced to balance the professional and personal. The writer/director elicits spot-on performances from Dennis Quaid, alternately baffled and resigned by his sudden new roles at home and the office, but it's in Topher Grace that Weitz really strikes gold -- his stammering, over-confident, bright but wounded quality is reminiscent of a young Dustin Hoffman (or at least George Segal). In Good Company (2004) is a solid, worthy next step in the careers of both Grace and Weitz, and marks them both as talents to keep an eye on in coming years. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide