Film Review: Company Man (2000)

12 months ago

(source: tmdb.org)

When film becomes obscure despite notable names behind and in front of cameras, that, more often than not, happens for a good reason. This is what happened with Company Man, 2000 period comedy written and directed by Peter Askin and Douglas McGrath.

The plot begins in 1959. McGrath plays the protagonist, English prep school teacher Alan Quimp, man who fantasises about changing his uneventful life for a career of CIA agent, a lie that he starts telling in order to impress family of his demanding wife Daisy (played by Sigourney Weaver). By a set of coincidences Quimp helps young Russian dancer Rudolph Petrov (played by Ryan Phillipe) defect from Soviet Union to West. This catches attention of CIA which decides to recruit him and send him to seemingly undemanding task of watching Cuba, ruled by pro-American dictator Fulgencio Batista (played by Alan Cummings). Things get complicated when the country is taken over by revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro (played by Anthony LaPaglia). Quimp’s attempts to do his job would inadvertently start the chain of events leading to Bay of Pigs invasion.

Peter Askin is best known for biographical documentary Trumbo. Douglas McGrath was also known for documentaries, but he previously had written screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway, period comedy directed by Woody Allen, who briefly appears in Company Man as CIA agent. Their film is unusually short, with only 81 minutes of running time. That should suggest quick, easily digestible comedy that entertains audience with the series of quick gags unburdened with too much exposition or character developments.

First sign that it wouldn’t be the case was in Company Man, originally produced in 1999, being released a year later due to dispute over creative control between authors and producers. When the film was actually shown, it was universally panned by critics, completely ignored by audience and ending in direct-to-video distribution in UK and plenty other markets. To say that such harsh fate was deserved would be an understatement. Company Man is terribly directed, with its 16 million US$ budget somehow being misspent and instead of interesting period reconstruction the audience see what amount to series of cheap skits that would be behind the standards of the least ambitious television productions. The actors, despite all of their talent and charisma, appear to act on their own, not actually trying hard to play historic characters. But the worst thing about Company Man is almost complete absence of humour. While there are some jokes in the film, they are based on historical references that are likely to be incomprehensible to anyone except nostalgic Boomers and even they would find those jokes unfunny. Company Man, even with its short running time, is complete waste of time and it is so easy to imagine that anyone involved in production would probably prefer that this celluloid catastrophe never existed.

RATING: 1/10 (--)