The American Success Company (1979)

Review by All Movie Guide
William Richert's The American Success Company is truly a queer duck -- a kind of late-'70s fairy tale that appears to pull limited influence from the stories of Lord Dunsany, and a satirical paean to the me decade. Overloaded with off-the-wall sight gags, mildly understated surrealist touches, and some of the strangest characters in memory, Company stays fresh in one's mind because Richert and screenwriter Larry Cohen never feel the need to justify the weirdness of their choices. Yet the picture is flimsy; made as a quickie by Richert and Cohen, it feels as wispy and insubstantial as its production history -- a single shaggy dog joke stretched out to fill the better part of two hours. And, for every instance of comic inspiration -- such as the riotous moment when Harry uses an answering machine gag to establish the "authenticity" of his second persona, or the scene where Flowers defies his boss/father-in-law's attempts to order lunch for him -- many sequences drone on interminably. And certainly, not everyone will buy Richert's eccentric, free-for-all sense of humor or his "do anything" brand of comic surrealism -- a mode that fares a thousand times better in Winter Kills because the political/historical assassination subtext gives that picture added weight beneath its lunatic surface. But Company does benefit from sparkling dialogue throughout, a wryly clever twist ending, and fine performances from Jeff Bridges, Belinda Bauer, Bianca Jagger, and Ned Beatty, who -- wisely -- play this absurd material with utter sobriety. All told, The American Success Company makes an interesting viewing experience, for those who manage to land a copy, but it lacks the substance to become even a cult film -- destined to remain nothing more than an esoteric footnote in the careers of Richert, Cohen, and Bridges. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide