The two in question are Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid), a moderately successful sales rep. who’s comfortable with his job and his family life of a wife and two teenage daughters, while Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) is losing his wife at just 26. Things get mixed up when, two companies merge, and Carter is suddenly Dan’s boss. Things get even more difficult for Dan when he discovers his wife is unexpectedly pregnant and that his daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson) is dating his boss, Carter.

The premise sounds improbable, but it all quickly becomes understandable when we meet Carter, a hyper ambitious, caffeine addicted schmoozer who’s as emotionally adolescent as he is socially mature. Though he’s just been promoted to a major job, life isn’t any easier for Carter than it is for Dan. Inside he’s weak and insecure, never having had a strong father figure in his own life. When Dan, his underling, becomes a sort of surrogate father presence, Carter finally begins to grow up. Carter begins to see that the sales job, for Dan, isn’t about spitting out BS to move up. Dan believes in what he’s doing, and Carter recognizes a lack of the same sincerity in himself.

This passion for one’s job in a major corporation creates an interesting dynamic of big business ethics within and without the film. I love the fact that the film is so revelatory about problems within major businesses, and I love the fact that Dan successfully stands up for what is right in the midst of all the corporate chaos – a plot line Eric Snider feels is unrealistic.

Moving into deconstructive mode, it’s interesting to note how such an anti-big business film seems to be supporting the empire after all. Jon Popick points out the rampant product placement in the film and Jeffrey Overstreet notes the one-dimensionality of the big business bad guys while Roger Moore contests that the casting choices are pure marketing ploys to hit both younger and older audiences. Perhaps. The thing that strikes me is that Dan believes so much in selling advertising space in a sports magazine, as if the world’s a better place because of what he’s doing.

I have discovered that my biggest complaint is also shared by many others: Alex. She just feels out of place in this story. Exactly as Willie Waffle explains, she feels like an add-on within the narrative structure. She’s never a developed character in herself and her presence does little to help the story other than to amplify tension between Carter and Dan. A number of critics were also bothered by some of her inexplicable behavior, most notably Orson Scott Card, who goes into some detail on the matter.

In Good Company’s humor is subtle and vibrant, but occasionally conventional. The film often slows down its pace to take us along long contemplative moments as the characters sit and think to some awfully sappy soft music. Wietz’s music was great in About a Boy, I’m not sure what happened here. Very much a softer About a Boy, In Good Company comes up with a conclusion that, although much weaker in its potency, is just as weighty in its principles.

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