Customer Reviews

Company Man

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Company Man" is a spoof/comedy which is basically a work of fiction but placed in a certain place in History. It's 1961, around the time of the Bay of Pigs, and English Grammar teacher, Allen Quimp goes CIA agent(much to the chagrin of the CIA, to them he is a joke). He is sent on a "secret mission" to Cuba to assassinate Castro.
I'm not sure who this guy is who plays Allen, but he reminded me a little of Kevin Spacey, in the physical sense. Acting wise, he was hardly Oscar material, but I think he pulls the role off quite well. Especially up against Sigourney Weaver, who plays his greedy/selfish wife, Daisy. She gets some of the funniest lines in the film. John Toutorro plays his partner in crime, and he is very good and funny in his role. An almost unrecognizable Anthony Lapalgia plays Castro. Woody Allen is also in it, and he gets some funny lines also. Sprinkle in a little bit of Alan Cumming, playing his usual flamboyant character, and you have an interesting and entertaining line up of actors in this little comedy. I was entertained, and I laughed more in this than I have at most of the comedies I watched from the year 2001.
If you are a fan of films that spoof points in history, than this may be right up your alley. It will at least give you a good chuckle or two.

This was a hilarious movie! I saw it for the first time on IFC and couldn't stop sitting in front of the TV (I hardly watch TV). Now it is one of my favorite movies and it never gets old. Some parts are hard to understand the comedy in them, but once you see it over again-it seems clear and you finally get it-and just laugh! I guarantee you will have a good time watching this and if not, at least it's not like ANY other movie you've ever seen before. And the end credit bits are funny and add to all the laughter you just experienced. At least rent it and give it a shot. Everybody else who didn't enjoy it were just being too critical and pompous-just watch it-it's a movie, not politics!

If the three words of the title of my review appeal to you, then this movie should, too. I'd never heard of the lead actor/director/writer (Douglas McGrath) but I found him to be very humorous and enjoyable. Turns out he co-wrote Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway," "Emma," and other excellent films.

Anyway, he is perfect in his role as the wimpy grammar teacher/driver's ed instructor who lies about being a CIA agent in order to impress his domineering wife, and then actually ends up being hired by the CIA. The scene where he corrects the grammar of a fellow-agent in Cuba is great and could be used by teachers everywhere to bring humor to the teaching of grammar and to help students have fun over the "who/whom" conundrum.

However, I hate to single out just that scene, because there are so many good bits in the film. Does every joke work? No. There are a few that fall by the wayside. But, what the heck. There are very few films that keep me laughing all the way through and that have such a great ensemble cast, all of whom pull off their parts to a tee and all of whom know how to work a scene for a good chortle.

For a movie that is not a cliche and that is not your typical Hollywood by-the-numbers comedy give this one a try. Personally, I hope McGrath makes another film soon and that this one gets the attention it deserves.

This movie is hilarious!

The comedy isn't in disgusting acts but rather in the script. The main actor is a very funny character. The whole movie I was laughing throughout as they the script was very upbeat and always in tempo with what was going on screen. The acting was perfect with the script and all the actors did a great job portraying this movie.

See this movie! Rent it or buy it see it for yourself, you will not be disappointed.

I'm surprized this movie hasn't received better reviews. I never get tired of this movie. Denis Leary has a small part, but he does it really well - it shows he can handle large AND small roles. All of the other actors in this movie collectively bring the movie together in a wonderfully cheerful way. Give this movie a shot, its so much more entertaining than you'd ever expect.

COMPANY MAN was really just not my cup of tea. I am game for almost anything - especially a goofball comedy but this thing just falls flat. The occasional laugh here and there will give way to more 'interesting' set-ups rather than funny ones. (An example is the vivid portrayal of how Mikhail Gorbachev 'really' got his purple birthmark.)

In short, bumbling, slightly funny grade school grammar teacher Alan Quimp (Douglas McGrath, who wrote and directed this travesty) is yanked into the CIA, sent to Cuba with the purpose of assassinating Fidel Castro (a much funnier Anthony LaPaglia). The result is an odd cross between the worst of Jerry Lewis and a quaalude.

You'd think with the kind of star power McGrath commanded here - Sigourney Weaver, Woody Allen (oh! funny as hell as CIA field director of Cuba), Ryan Phillippe (as Petrov, the sweet despondent Russian danseur noble), Jeffrey Jones, etc., etc., well ... yet it is not funny overall.

Alan Cumming does a fall-down hilarious turn as General Bautista, and Allen after being cursed by a waiter with choice words involving his mother replies, "Ahem ... ah, yes, your ... your mother suffers from the same condition," equally drop-dead hilarious, well, it just isn't all that funny. Dennis Leary among others did not help the comedy and Phillippe, as talented and rich as he is, simply flails dramatically with his role, not knowing how else to act.

Ultimately I think that is the real problem with this, and that kind of thing is ALWAYS the director's fault. I wouldn't bother to watch this unless it popped up on cable - and then only for Phillippe's and Allen's appearances.

Otherwise pass on this and get something much funnier, like The Good Shepherd ....

I love this movie, a hidden jewel. Very hard to find and a wonderful surprise. I am a Woody Allen fan and his uncredited, but central part is hilarious. The entire cast is just great and I have never seen Bautista portrayed so passionately.

It is a hoot that will leave you smiling long after the movie is over. It made me want to go to Cuba.

What makes this movie so extraordinary is that all of the weird stuns the characters used in movie to kill or to discredit Castro were actually used by the CIA at the time. Which says a lot about the quality and the mindset of the people within that misguided Ivy league organization.

A *very* funny movie, but young audiences might not get all of it. Older folks will get all the silly bits that depend on historical references.

The main character delivers the laughs in clever ways, projecting a personality like Chevy Chase's Griswold, but without pratfalls. The humor is all in the ideas, delivered by the script itself.

The appearance by Woody Allen (who gets no billing on the box or credits) appears to be a cameo at first. A short while later someone who looks like Rob Reiner makes an appearance as Fidel Castro. It isn't (Reiner nor Castro). Woody later reappears, so it turns out to be more than a cameo.

Reduced to four stars due to some perverse nude activity at the very end that should have earned it an R rating. (Actually, it should have been omitted.)

Boy, I've been watching this movie for about a month this week, & I'm still in the first 90 minutes. Turturro is weird, which is why I like him, almost as weird as he was in Big Lebowski. Sigourney Weaver makes you want to sic an Alien on her. Dennis Leary is a throwaway here.