Taglines: He’s rich, young and handsome. He’s in love with you and he’s your dad’s boss.
Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) is 26 and thinks his life is awesome, mostly. The whiz kid has been devoting himself single-mindedly to getting ahead at the multinational conglomerate Globecom. Management even knows his name — Carter is being “groomed” for his next rung on the corporate ladder: heading up ad sales at one of the cornerstone publications newly acquired by Globecom in their latest takeover, the magazine Sports America. Unfortunately for Carter, his promotion coincides with the crumbling of his seven-month marriage and he has no one, save a pet fish, to share his joy with. But he knows he’s on his way, he’s going places — and he’ll manage.
Dan’s exasperation at his demotion is nothing compared to his incredulity at being replaced by the 26-year-old Carter. Given his new boss’ age and relative experience in ad sales (none), Dan has little desire to be Carter’s “wing man.” But in light of the new developments at home, he needs his job as much as Carter needs his. Forging a tenuous relationship out of corporate necessity, the two begin working together to meet Globecom’s mandate of cutting the department’s budget while increasing revenue by 35 percent.
Carter’s zeal to deliver to upper management doesn’t win him many fans in the Sports America offices. His bottom line focused approach, somewhat lacking in the human side of business, is often at odds with Dan and his devotion to his staff. As Dan sees it, these people are a family — something Carter is sorely lacking. The new department head’s loneliness even prompts him to call a Sunday staff meeting and then invite himself to Dan’s home for dinner with the Foremans, where Carter and Alex have a chance to talk while Alex whoops her dad’s boss at foosball.
Later, when the lonely ad salesman runs across the equally lonely NYU transfer student at a Manhattan cafe, the chance meeting rekindles the sparks initially felt at the family dinner… sparks that begin an affair, which the pair find themselves hiding from Dan. The corporate handbook has precious little to say about sleeping with your employee’s collegiate daughter and if word were ever to get out, news of their affair would seriously threaten Carter’s detente with Dan, Alex’s close relationship with her father and the progress the two salesmen have made at Sports America. All in all, life for both Dan and Carter just got a bit more complicated.
In Good Company is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Weitz, and starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Scarlett Johansson. The film is about a middle-aged advertising executive whose company is bought out by a large international corporation leaving him with a new boss who is nearly half his age. His life is further complicated when his boss takes a romantic interest in his daughter.
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In Good Company (2004)
Directed by: Paul Weitz
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johansson, Marg Helgenberger, David Paymer, Philip Baker Hall, Selma Blair, Ty Burrell, Frankie Faison, Lauren Tom, Amy Aquino
Screenplay by: Paul Weitz
Production Design by: William Arnold
Cinematography by: Remi Adefarasin
Film Editing by: Myron I. Kerstein
Costume Design by: Molly Maginnis
Set Decoration by: David Smith
Art Direction by: Sue Chan
Music by: Stephen Trask
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and drug references.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: December 29, 2004
Visits: 67
