In Good Company

[hedwig]

The title has been changed to In Good Company.

Trailer HERE.

I like Synergy better -- this sounds too much like In The Company of Men.

And I liked that trailer quite a bit -- a thid into it I was suddenly reminded of Punch Drunk Love.

Scarlett is cute, too.

I'll see this.

[El Duderino]

could this be the first good role for dennis quaid in a llllooonnnngggg time? i sure as hell hope so

[MacGuffin]

could this be the first good role for dennis quaid in a llllooonnnngggg time? i sure as hell hope so

"The Rookie" and "Far From Heaven" weren't that long ago.

[El Duderino]

well, neither were "Cold Creek Manor" "The Alamo" and "The Day After Tomorrow"

[MacGuffin]

Guess I misunderstood the your measurement of time with "llllooonnnngggg" meaning recent months.

[El Duderino]

over 2 films = llllooonnnngggg

[Kal]

Its all about Scarlett, homos

[Just Withnail]

I'm actually surprisingly optimistic about this one, quite enjoyed the trailer.

By the way, that's a fantastic band name: The Scarlet Homos

[ono]

It doesn't make sense.  This movie should be horrible, another throwaway, especially 'cause of when it's being released.  Maybe it is, I don't know yet.  I don't know what Newsweek's credentials are either,  Maybe this is just a lot of hype, a lot of hot air.  But things are looking good.  The premise seemed a bit off, but maybe the cast will carry it.

State of Grace
After high times on 'That '70s Show,' Topher Grace makes the leap to film and lands 'In Good Company'
Topher full of grace: A young Everyman
By Devin Gordon
Newsweek

Jan. 10 issue - Someday soon, Topher Grace will be an award-winning actor. He will be a movie star, one of those guys about whom directors and producers and studio chiefs say fondly, "He can do anything." If every planet aligns, he'll inherit American cinema's Everyman throne passed down from Jimmy Stewart to Jack Lemmon to Tom Hanks—actors whom Grace, 26, has long revered. But in the meantime, he'll have to settle for this: according to Scarlett Johansson, his radiant costar in the workplace comedy "In Good Company," Grace plants upon her ample lips the best on-screen kiss she's ever received. Way to go, stud. "During shooting," says Grace, "I asked her as a joke, [in a lascivious voice] 'So, who's your best movie kiss ever?' And she says, 'Oh, definitely you.' I was, like, 'Uh, what?' And then I told everyone on the set. I think I actually made an announcement."

Not to rain on Grace's parade, but Johansson, 20, hasn't gotten much action on screen. It was basically him versus Bill Murray. Still, he outslugged a legend—and surely not for the last time. As the star of Fox's hit sitcom "That '70s Show," Grace has spent seven years making Ashton Kutcher seem funny. He's become a company player for Steven Soderbergh, appearing as a spoiled druggie in "Traffic" and, hilariously, as a spoiled version of himself in "Ocean's Eleven" and "Twelve." But he bided his time selecting his first major film role, passing repeatedly, then pouncing when he read "In Good Company," by writer-director Paul Weitz ("About a Boy"). Grace plays Carter Duryea, 26, a hotshot who, after a corporate merger, becomes the boss of 51-year-old father of two Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid). It's an awkward pairing that becomes really awkward when Duryea begins schtupping Foreman's daughter (Johansson). Far from the usual sleazeball, though, Duryea is actually a decent but mixed-up kid. He's gotten success way too quickly, and his soul is struggling to keep up. It's a poignant, complex role, and Grace, with shades of Lemmon in "The Apartment," smacks it out of the park.

Of course, he had to fight just to get a turn at the plate. Director Weitz knew of the actor only from the bit part in "Traffic." Universal, meanwhile, the studio behind the film, was willing to consider someone from "That '70s Show"—Kutcher, not Grace. "With a studio," says Grace, "if you haven't opened a movie, you don't exist." Grace did not exist. Kutcher, cruising on the glory of "Dude, Where's My Car?", did. So, at Universal's request, Weitz met with Kutcher to discuss the role, but the two quickly agreed it wasn't a good fit. Then Grace auditioned. "The thing I really liked about Topher was the thing that made the studio a little scared," says Weitz. "He wasn't desperate to be liked. Most actors want to be embraced. But with Carter you need to believe, at least initially, that he would fire Dennis Quaid's character at the drop of a hat. I could tell Topher was going to be OK with being icy."

It also helped that Grace could easily have been Carter Duryea in real life. He grew up in the tony Connecticut suburb of Darien, the son of a businessman who commuted daily into New York. "I feel like I speak this language fluently," he says. "The language that I speak in Hollywood is like this crude second language to me." In high school, "That '70s Show" creators Bonnie and Terry Turner, whose daughter was a pal of Grace's, saw him in a student production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and told him to look them up if he ever came to Los Angeles. "That '70s Show," which ends in March—"11 more episodes, not that anyone's counting"—was his first-ever audition.

At the age of 18 Grace was a TV star, but instead of considering his good luck a birthright, he treated it like a debt that had to be repaid. Making his film debut in "Traffic," he says, was an exhilarating experience, "and I realized I needed to find a path that would allow me to do this for a long time, so that it wasn't like I lost my virginity to the hottest girl I'll ever sleep with." Weitz and others on "In Good Company" say Grace is earthbound and easygoing off camera, but deeply cautious—even difficult at times—about his career. (He briefly halted his NEWSWEEK photo shoot over a proposed conceit that he thought denigrated his TV peers.) "If you're just in love with the lifestyle, you have a whole different set of priorities," he says. "But if the show ended and that was it for me, I'd be heartbroken. I want this to be the beginning of my career." Rest assured, it is—and we can't wait to see where it's headed next.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6777693/site/newsweek/

[modage]

It doesn't make sense.  This movie should be horrible, another throwaway, especially 'cause of when it's being released.  Maybe it is, I don't know yet.  I don't know what Newsweek's credentials are either,  Maybe this is just a lot of hype, a lot of hot air.  But things are looking good.  The premise seemed a bit off, but maybe the cast will carry it.

well, it was released at the end of december which is the best time to get released, its just not expanding until january.  when i read the synopsis back when it was Synergy i thought they would be playing up the 'how ridiculous is this?!?' all comedy thing, but i didnt end up seeing the trailer until about a month ago and now i think it looks really good.  so i'm looking forward to this as (possibly) my last hope at one of the 20 best of 2004.

[modage]

saw this tonite and really liked it.  it really helps sometimes to know so little going into a movie and just enjoy myself. because its rare when i can do that.  the story although it seemed like it was somewhat familiar, it managed to constantly stay fresh for me by going in unexpected directions.  i liked how sympathetic they were to both sides instead of just painting one character 'the bad guy'. everyone in the cast was good, including topher, who it was my first time seeing him in a leading movie role.  WARNING: scarlett fans beware, she comes in and out of the movie for long stretches! its nice to see the weitz going in a good dramedy direction with about a boy and then this,w hen they so easily could've just milked the teen genre while it was hot, so respect to them. (also: 2 shins songs, what is this the new garden state?!?  and a minor faux paus for playing a song that cameron crowe already used.  thats just a no-no.)   it was funny, i cared about the characters, and i liked it.    

[Sleuth]

saw this tonite and really liked it.  it really helps sometimes to know so little going into a movie and just enjoy myself.

I know I'm like the 10th person to say this, but you should seriously do that more often.

[modage]

i know.  i wish i could, but between here, 5 magazine subscriptions and daily online news, its hard to stay uninformed.  

[Kal]

I really liked this... very very good acting and the story was good overall... good ending too... I like the trailer for this and was looking forward to it, although it looked very predictable, but it isnt... its good!

[SiliasRuby]

I am not going to repeatwhat's already been said about this film, other than it's good....hehehe