Grace plays 26-year-old Carter Duryea, an up and comer in a multinational company that feeds itself on the synergy of its component company parts and the maniacal ego of its owner, the enigmatic Teddy K (the wife saw her boss, I thought Rupert Murdoch). When Teddy K buys a major magazine publishing house, Duryea begs his immediate supervisor, who has drunk even more of the corporate Kool-Aid^tm, to let him switch from the telecommunications company (cell phone division) to the sales department of the Sports magazine that has just been purchased. His rationale is that selling advertising is just like selling cell phones to the under 6 crowd. Selling is selling. For the record, this is where I bought into the flick, because I have met so many of these "It does not matter what I am selling" idiots that I was immediately rooting for Duryea to fall on his snot-nosed face. Which he does, but that is later.

When there is a new sales manager, there has to be an old sales manager, and in the case of this magazine, that 51-year-old manager is Dan Foreman, played by Dennis Quaid. At 50, Quaid is absolutely perfect in this role. He is an actor (who the wife says is aging "perfectly") that I have loved in far more roles (The Rookie, Far From Heaven, Wyatt Earp) than I have hated (Day After Tomorrow, Dragonheart) and with In Good Company, I have another to love. He is the kind of manager you like to work for, the kind of dad you would like to have and the kind of husband you would like to be.

So, is this a movie about clashes of corporate personality cultures? Well, that would be boring, unless it was a Kevin Smith movie, so we need a third leg to add to the young punk, wise salesman triangle.  How about an 18-year old daughter of the salesman who falls in love with the punk? Perfect. Add Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Girl with Pearl Earring) and we have our Hollywood conflict in need of a happy ending. But whether you get it or not is going to be a matter of your opinion, which is what makes In Good Company a movie you really should see.

There are a couple of other good performances. Grace's supervisor, Steckle, is played wonderfully by Clark Gregg, who was the pain in the butt district attorney in State and Main. He plays a similar personality type here and it is SO good to see what happens to him at the end of this film. At the beginning of the movie, Grace is married to Selma Blair.  If you want any indication of how much you will dislike Duryea, Blair gives you every reason. Also, Marg Helgenberger (who I will forever in my mind see in China Beach) is wonderful as Quaid's wife.  It would have been easy to make her a flat personality, but writer/director Paul Weitz, who directed a couple of my favorite movies of the last few years, About a Boy and American Pie, has once again done a great job paying attention to character detail.

In Good Company keeps you company in a great way. Go see it.

Hank Yuloff is one of our many talented writers in Los Angeles, and hopes some director will feature a love scene between Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman in a movie very soon.