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Company Man
Paramount // PG-13 // August 28, 2001
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Director Douglas McGrath (writer of "Emma" and "Bullets Over Broadway")'s comedy "Company Man" hit theaters last Winter and never got beyond ten screens in its minor release. Judging by what reportedly happened earlier though, it seems lucky for the filmmakers that the film ever even made it to theaters. Although the film was reportedly done a couple of years ago, lawsuits between the filmmakers and the production company as well as forced reshoots lead the picture to be shelved for a lengthy period.
On second thought, after watching the picture, it may have benefited from more work in the editing room. The final product simply feels as if everything's been edited out of it. Coming in at only a mere eighty one minutes, the picture is a haphazard mish-mash of jokes that largely fall flat. The film stars the director himself as Allen Quimp, a mild-mannered husband who makes up a lie that he's in the CIA to stop his wife (Sigorney Weaver, looking embarassed) from bothering him about getting a better job than driver's ed. teacher.
Through a number of completely unbelievable and boring events, Allen not only helps a Russian (Ryan Phillipe, looking rightly confused while he attempts a terrible accent) defect to the US, but he gets himself assigned to Cuba right before the revolution happens - the whole movie is one ludicrous event after another anyways, though. When he gets to Cuba (actually filmed around New York...), he's met by his contact, Fry (Denis Leary), who introduces him to the man in charge (played by Woody Allen, apparently paying McGrath back for the "Broadway" screenplay).
McGrath may have proven himself a talented writer in the past, but he's the main cause why "Company Man" crashes. Not only don't a single one of his jokes connect, he's a painfully bad comedic actor. The director/writer's sense of comedic timing is so far off that every scene turns strangely fascinating, simply watching him struggle desperately to be funny. He's joined by an almost equally terrible John Tuturro, overacting to the point where he's practically foaming at the mouth.
The other actors, obviously brought in by the strength of McGrath's previous credits, are all over the place. Dennis Leary usually looks irritated anyways, but during "Company Man", he looks legitimately annoyed with having to deal with McGrath, as one horridly dull sequence tries to mine jokes out of McGrath's character trying to constantly correct his grammar. Allen is eventually brought in to assassinate Castro, since he's the one least likely. Whatever.
The truly sad part is that, even at eighty one minutes, the picture still seems like an enternity. The actors seem to be sensing that the jokes are failing and, as a result, try to force them at the audience. This only makes it all more dismal to view. "Company Man" starts off badly and it only gets worse as it goes along.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Company Man" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Paramount. This is a decent transfer, coming in lower than their usual efforts, but not providing any major problems or concerns. Sharpness and detail are quite good, as the picture seemed well-defined and crisp throughout the film, even in the darker scenes. Slight print flaws and a few traces of pixelation were all of the flaws involved in the presentation - in other words, a few spots here and there, but overall, not much to worry about. Colors looked bright and vibrant, with no instances of smearing. Not a remarkable transfer, but fairly nice.
SOUND: "Company Man" is only presented in Dolby 2.0. A completely dialogue-driven movie, there's almost nothing else going on in terms of sound. Audio quality seemed fine, as dialogue sounded clear and crisp.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus with the cover art in the background for the main menu.
EXTRAS:: The film's trailer. With all of the legal issues surrounding the movie and the film's performance at the box office, I doubt that there could have been any of the film's participants brought in to comment on just what happened for any supplemental features.
Final Thoughts: "Company Man" isn't simply bad, it's severly problematic. Paramount's bare-bones DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but no extras. I would have loved to hear a McGrath commentary to hear just what he was thinking (or what he was on - maybe he took some of the LSD involved in the plot) when he came up with this picture, but oh well. Not recommended.
Director Douglas McGrath (writer of "Emma" and "Bullets Over Broadway")'s comedy "Company Man" hit theaters last Winter and never got beyond ten screens in its minor release. Judging by what reportedly happened earlier though, it seems lucky for the filmmakers that the film ever even made it to theaters. Although the film was reportedly done a couple of years ago, lawsuits between the filmmakers and the production company as well as forced reshoots lead the picture to be shelved for a lengthy period.
On second thought, after watching the picture, it may have benefited from more work in the editing room. The final product simply feels as if everything's been edited out of it. Coming in at only a mere eighty one minutes, the picture is a haphazard mish-mash of jokes that largely fall flat. The film stars the director himself as Allen Quimp, a mild-mannered husband who makes up a lie that he's in the CIA to stop his wife (Sigorney Weaver, looking embarassed) from bothering him about getting a better job than driver's ed. teacher.
Through a number of completely unbelievable and boring events, Allen not only helps a Russian (Ryan Phillipe, looking rightly confused while he attempts a terrible accent) defect to the US, but he gets himself assigned to Cuba right before the revolution happens - the whole movie is one ludicrous event after another anyways, though. When he gets to Cuba (actually filmed around New York...), he's met by his contact, Fry (Denis Leary), who introduces him to the man in charge (played by Woody Allen, apparently paying McGrath back for the "Broadway" screenplay).
McGrath may have proven himself a talented writer in the past, but he's the main cause why "Company Man" crashes. Not only don't a single one of his jokes connect, he's a painfully bad comedic actor. The director/writer's sense of comedic timing is so far off that every scene turns strangely fascinating, simply watching him struggle desperately to be funny. He's joined by an almost equally terrible John Tuturro, overacting to the point where he's practically foaming at the mouth.
The other actors, obviously brought in by the strength of McGrath's previous credits, are all over the place. Dennis Leary usually looks irritated anyways, but during "Company Man", he looks legitimately annoyed with having to deal with McGrath, as one horridly dull sequence tries to mine jokes out of McGrath's character trying to constantly correct his grammar. Allen is eventually brought in to assassinate Castro, since he's the one least likely. Whatever.
The truly sad part is that, even at eighty one minutes, the picture still seems like an enternity. The actors seem to be sensing that the jokes are failing and, as a result, try to force them at the audience. This only makes it all more dismal to view. "Company Man" starts off badly and it only gets worse as it goes along.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Company Man" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Paramount. This is a decent transfer, coming in lower than their usual efforts, but not providing any major problems or concerns. Sharpness and detail are quite good, as the picture seemed well-defined and crisp throughout the film, even in the darker scenes. Slight print flaws and a few traces of pixelation were all of the flaws involved in the presentation - in other words, a few spots here and there, but overall, not much to worry about. Colors looked bright and vibrant, with no instances of smearing. Not a remarkable transfer, but fairly nice.
SOUND: "Company Man" is only presented in Dolby 2.0. A completely dialogue-driven movie, there's almost nothing else going on in terms of sound. Audio quality seemed fine, as dialogue sounded clear and crisp.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus with the cover art in the background for the main menu.
EXTRAS:: The film's trailer. With all of the legal issues surrounding the movie and the film's performance at the box office, I doubt that there could have been any of the film's participants brought in to comment on just what happened for any supplemental features.
Final Thoughts: "Company Man" isn't simply bad, it's severly problematic. Paramount's bare-bones DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but no extras. I would have loved to hear a McGrath commentary to hear just what he was thinking (or what he was on - maybe he took some of the LSD involved in the plot) when he came up with this picture, but oh well. Not recommended.
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