Sometimes a star can make a film, sometimes break it. The latter happens here, thanks to Scarlett Johannson. Shame - it could have been a pretty good film about a middle-aged advertising executive who gets demoted and replaced by a jargon-spouting, whippersnapper wiseguy.
Mr Old But Decent is played by Dennis Quaid and Mr Young and Hungry is Topher Grace, an unknown who does what he can with the thankless role of nasty newcomer.
Stuck in the middle is Johannson as Grace, daughter of Quaid and lover of his work rival. There is nothing wrong with her performance: she's every bit as gawkily, sexily magnetic as she was in Lost in Translation. But someone has pumped up her role in the wake of last year's outbreak of Scarlett Fever and that forces the plot into a three-way split - older man/younger man drama, dad/daughter feelgood tale, guy/girl romance - without managing to develop any of the strands.
There are nevertheless some great lines and writer and director Paul Weitz (About a Boy) knows how to make even the most clichèd material fresh.
In Good Company
Cert: certPG
