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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 14, 2005

'In Good Company' an amiable corporate comedy

 •  Scarlett Johansson's star is on the rise
 •  Topher Grace a nice guy despite his fame

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

IN GOOD COMPANY (PG-13) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good)

An amiable if unspectacular comedy about the generation gap in the work place as young hot shot Topher Grace is hired to replace veteran advertising executive Dennis Quaid. Then he also hits on Quaid's 18-year-old daughter, Scarlett Johansson. Paul Weitz writes and directs. Universal, 109 minutes.

Dan (Dennis Quaid), a middle-age advertising executive, gets replaced by Carter (Topher Grace) a 26-year-old corporate hot shot in Paul Weitz's "In Good Company," and has to fight for his pride and his place in a corporation with a youthful agenda.

It's a likable if unspectacular comedy about office politics and the generation gap, using gentle, low-key humor to examine one of the day's most volatile battlegrounds — the workplace. Its tone is not unlike the easy-to-like flavor of Weitz's earlier work in "About a Boy."

Weitz both compounds and softens "In Good Company" by tossing in a bit of romance that sounds like what it probably is — a superfluous afterthought:

Scarlett Johansson plays Dan's 18-year-old daughter, Alex, who's beginning college life at NYU. By curious coincidence, Alex and Carter meet, and Carter begins to pursue the attractive young lady, unaware that she's Dan's daughter. But, soon enough, Dan discovers the same man threatens both his job and his family.

It's certainly more than enough to light a fire under Dan.

"In Good Company" might have benefited from a bit more edge and a little less whimsy, yet its trio of capable stars is undeniably appealing. Quaid, in particular, shows Dan's considerable capabilities and the value of his experience in the office and in life.

Though "In Good Company" isn't a knee-slapper, its amiable approach to a relatively serious topic is a welcome shift from the winter season's plethora of darker films.

Rated PG-13. Innuendo, drug references.

• • •

Scarlett Johansson's star is on the rise

HOLLYWOOD — Those ripe, scorpion-stung lips easily are her most alluring feature, but a recent Saturday night found Scarlett Johansson looking a little too puffy — the result of some weird allergic reaction.

"I think it was something I ate, or something I put on my face, or something bit me," says the now back-to-beautiful 20-year-old star. "At 3 a.m., my eyes, face and mouth were so swollen it really scared me.

"You can still see a little red in the corner of my eyes," she says, pulling down her eyelid and hunching over her partially eaten tuna melt and "so-so" potato salad in a booth at Mel's Diner on Sunset Strip just days after her mysterious affliction.

It was the only blemish on what was otherwise a motion-picture-perfect week that began Dec. 13 with her Golden Globe lead-actress nomination for "A Love Song for Bobby Long," her

third after dual nominations last year for "Lost in Translation" and "Girl With a Pearl Earring." "Love Song," in which she plays a girl returning to New Orleans after her mother's death, opened Dec. 29 in select cities.

Johansson also stars in "In Good Company," in which the actress plays a college kid torn between the love for her father (Dennis Quaid) and her attraction to her dad's much younger boss (Topher Grace). With both films squeezing in just before year's end, her chances for Oscar consideration are good.

But instead of celebrating her Golden Globe nomination with pals, Johansson hung out in her L.A. apartment, dripping cortisone drops into her usually beautiful blues. Whether anyone was beside her on the sofa playing doctor, she's not telling.

Reports indicate her low-profile, months-long relationship with actor Jared Leto, 33, petered out some weeks ago, but Johansson won't say whether she's single or coupled. "Thank you for not prying," she says demurely.

She does say the two were disgusted by a widely distributed photo of them making out outside Jerry's Deli in L.A. "It was creepy, horrible. As long as people keep buying tabloids, they'll keep harassing people in the public eye. They'll make up stories.

"Recently I read I was dating (Yankees shortstop) Derek Jeter. We were at a mutual friend's party, and no, we are not dating."

And as for her widely reported sexual liaison in an elevator with Benicio Del Toro at last year's Oscars, she says that's rubbish, too. "I went home alone that night to my mom's house, but nobody cares about that." Apparently, a joke she cracked to Elle magazine was taken as fact by the New York Post. "It was so embarrassing. I felt horrible about the way that portrayed Benicio Del Toro."

But there is someone who has been text-messaging Johansson throughout our late-night diner dinner, someone who has been making her blush and smile and inspiring her to send back a few punched-in responses of her own.

With no personal e-mail account ("It's another way of getting in touch with people that I just don't want to be bothered with"), Johansson "loves text-messaging because you can be flirty or silly or gross ... or serious."

She is all of those things in one petite 5-feet-4 package. "Whippersnapper" is the term actor Gabriel Macht, Johansson's "Love Song" love interest, uses to describe her. "She's got a real generous nature. She's so playful. I enjoyed watching her and John (Travolta) sing show tunes between takes."

Her "In Good Company" boyfriend, Grace, also found her pixie-like nature endearing. "We would sit around the set cracking each other up," Grace says. "Everyone knows (Scarlett) is the greatest young actress in Hollywood. She's just that good and has handled her fame so well."

In March, Johansson will star in Michael Bay's big-budget thriller "The Island." Then she immediately begins work for Brian De Palma in "The Black Dahlia" alongside Hilary Swank and Josh Hartnett. Summer will find Johansson promoting her top-secret role in Woody Allen's next film before beginning her top-secret role opposite Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible 3."

Allen, she says, has "no ego at all, which makes him so touching somehow. It attracts you to him. He's adorable. Lovable. I wish we could be companions and go everywhere together."

Traveling the globe with Woody Allen? Bottling Tom Cruise like a genie? When you're Scarlett Johansson, you dream big.

— William Keck, USA Today

• • •

Topher Grace a nice guy despite his fame

HOLLYWOOD — It happened almost in slow motion. Handing a valet the keys to his black VW (still bearing a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker), Topher Grace, en route to discuss his new film, "In Good Company," was nearly run over in the driveway of the Chateau Marmont. The reckless driver: none other than this reporter. But rather than flip a bird, Grace proved himself worthy of his surname, offering only a warm smile and a friendly wave.

Because of his nonceleb ways, it has been presumed that Grace is not close to his "That '70s Show" co-stars. He doesn't take part in Danny Masterson's weekly poker games; he wanted no part of being "Punk'd" by Ashton Kutcher; and he was not invited by Kutcher, Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama and Laura Prepon to be part of their restaurateur investor's club. The real story behind his exclusion: "I'm too cheap as a person, and they know that about me."

But Grace insists the "'70s" cast is quite tight. All were invited to the premiere of "In Good Company" (in Hawai'i theaters today), although Valderrama was the only member of the younger cast to show up. In the film, Grace plays a hotshot exec who becomes boss to Dennis Quaid and boyfriend to Quaid's daughter, played by Scarlett Johansson.

Grace also reprises his role as a drastically altered kabbalah-following version of himself in "Ocean's Twelve." Grace is nothing like his "Ocean's" alter ego. Dressed in jeans and a jersey, he looks more like a college student than a millionaire movie star. The tabloids never touch him, and even he finds humor in his association with other stars, including Quaid. "How wild is it that I'm buddies with Dennis Quaid?"

As he leads the way to the Chateau's outdoor patio, Grace spots a familiar face. It's his old babysitter from his early years in Darien, Conn. But this is no little granny type. Grace's former sitter is actress Chloe Sevigny, who reports that her charge was very well behaved under her supervision.

"She was cool because she used to let me stay up late," Grace says, asking Sevigny, "Did (my parents) pay you more than you make now?"

"Very little, I'm sure," she says with a laugh, before revealing that the two co-starred in school productions of "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Wizard of Oz."

Turns out Darien was quite the celebrity breeding ground: It also produced musician Moby and middle-school chum Kate Bosworth, Grace's co-star in "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!"

Scarlett Johansson stars opposite Topher Grace from "That '70s Show," in the comedy "In Good Company." She also is appearing in "A Love Song for Bobby Long." That role earned her a Golden Globe nomination to go with the two nominations she received last year.

Universal Studios

That romantic comedy was a departure for the actor, who has made a conscious effort to steer clear of commercial teen fare. His latest films, "In Good Company," and "P.S." (not yet opened in Hawai'i), in which he romanced Laura Linney, are more in keeping with the smaller films he seeks.

As for his dating life, Grace makes a passing reference to Sevigny about "Ginny and I," but he politely declines discussing anything remotely personal. He has never been publicly linked with anyone.

The "Ginny" he refers to is actress Ginnifer Goodwin, who appeared with him in "Mona Lisa Smile" and whom he suggested for "Tad Hamilton!" She also will co-star with Sevigny in the HBO series "Big Love."

Grace has said the two are "best friends."

So protective is Grace of his inner circle that when he is asked his sister's name, he dials her up to ask her permission. After 23-year-old Jenny Grace gives her consent, he ends the call with "I love you."

"My family's not too into me being famous, because it ruins (public) stuff we want to do," he explains. His mother, Patricia, is an office worker at a private school, and his father, John, is a businessman in New York and the inspiration for his "In Good Company" character. When John saw the film, Grace says his dad "shed a little tear."

It's a good time to be Topher. He won the National Board of Review's breakthrough performance award, and within hours his agent was flooded with scripts.

Grace has just bought an apartment in New York. And though he'll maintain his L.A. home, Grace will pack up his new pup, Max, and become a full-time East Coaster as soon as his "'70s" era ends this spring.

"Me and Max are going to hop in the Jetta and drive east," Grace says. "I want to do it the night the show ends. You know — make it this cathartic journey."

— William Keck, USA Today