In Good Company 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It is clever and thoughtful and has the added benefit of being about people you may recognize as fellow wage earners, for better or worse. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ultimately, this workplace fairy tale creates its own cheer. When its time is up, you'll feel like you've been in good company. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Taps into male-specific wants and needs and says a mouthful about the corporate world. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: A richly satisfying and darkly funny movie about, of all places, a workplace. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Harmless and complacent, yes. Discerning and risky, no. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Quaid provides the film with a solid foundation by ably playing yet another strong-willed father figure. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: As corporate comedy-dramas go, Company is cheerful and easy to watch but surprisingly inept in the telling. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: In Good Company does have a lot of balls in the air, but thanks to smart acting and expert writing and directing, it handles them pretty well. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: It's more fun than Sideways and just as adult, but because it hews closer to genre formula (and therefore is somewhat more obvious), you'll find it on few if any Top 10 lists. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: It is at once funny, awkward and true, which puts it in rare company, indeed. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The denouement of the movie is as preposterously happy as a children's fairy tale. But the moral is ageless. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Heralds the official arrival of Topher Grace as a star in the making. The guy from TV's That '70s Show has the loose, lanky frame and unforced charm to go places in the movies. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: It's Rain Man with ageism substituted for autism. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The movie's most poignant moments remind you that for every rising star in the corporate world, there's a dutiful old-timer who is suddenly, and sometimes unfairly, deemed expendable. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: In Good Company is the perfect comedy for this topsy-turvy age of bottom-lining and pup-eat-dog. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: There is enjoyment to be found in the disparate elements, but as far as meaningful cinema goes, the flick falls short of its objectives. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: An amusing and unusually compassionate look at today's corporate culture. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Paul Weitz's engagingly lightweight drama is a gently revisionist fairy tale about good versus evil set on the battlefield of contemporary corporate culture. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Not only the best American picture of 2004, but also the most grown-up movie to come from Hollywood in recent years. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Feels like a movie written by and for marketing types -- Quaid and Marg Helgenberger (as his wife) to appeal to baby boomers, and Grace and Johansson for Generation Y. That's a business strategy, not a movie. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Despite a static plot where little happens, In Good Company has two strengths to recommend it: strong character interaction and a viciously accurate depiction of the modern corporate philosophy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A rare species: a feel-good movie about big business. It's about a corporate culture that tries to be evil and fails. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The picture has a pleasurable, good-natured glow. You can diagram its various problems as you're watching it and still walk away feeling you've had a good time. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: It manages to be funny and charming while capturing a lot of disturbing things about the way we live now: our deepest fears about our place in a system that could force us to clean out our desks (if we even have desks) at the drop of a stock point. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The point of [Weitz's] story isn't to deliver a tidy resolution, but to let us get to know two characters a little and like them a lot. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: In Good Company doesn't rise to [Billy] Wilder's level, but it's definitely in the same league. Read more

Christy Lemire, Journal News (Westchester, NY): Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: There are two movies vying for top management position of In Good Company, and the wrong one gets the promotion. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: This one's not brilliant, but it has some of [About a Boy's] easygoing charms. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: An often lively comedy-drama that lands some nice jabs at the mega-corp ethos, In Good Company makes for pretty good company until going soft when it counts. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: In somewhat bad faith, In Good Company abandons its satire of corporate culture to focus on male bonding. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: You can't help liking it, no matter how much or little you laugh. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A bland, occasionally phlegmatic pastiche of cliches and dull encounters. Read more