Company Man ** (2000, Douglas McGrath, Sigourney Weaver, Paul Guilfoyle, Denis Leary, John Turturro, Alan Cumming, Anthony LaPaglia) – Classic Movie Review 10,982

Writers-directors Peter Askin and Douglas McGrath’s 2000 comedy Company Man stars Douglas McGrath, Jeffrey Jones, Reathel Bean, Paul Guilfoyle, Sigourney Weaver, Ryan Phillippe, Heather Matarazzo, Denis Leary, John Turturro, Alan Cumming, Anthony LaPaglia and Woody Allen as Lowther (uncredited).

It’s the swinging sixties, and hapless high school English teacher Alan Quimp (Douglas McGrath) tries to impress people with his tales of working for the CIA, but gets recruited for real as a patsy in a plot to depose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (Anthony LaPaglia).

Company Man is a brisk, likeable enough comedy, with the exciting, starry cast funnier than the script, which doesn’t quite manage the clever wit that must have been intended.

It cost $16,000,000 and grossed $146,193, condemning it to go straight to DVD in the UK.

Douglas McGrath co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway.

Also in the cast are Terry Beaver, John Randolph Jones, Merwin Goldsmith, Kathleen Chalfant, Larry Clarke, Sandy McGrath, Frank Brosens, Norberto Kerner, Jane Reed Martin, Liz Welch Tyrrell, Darlena Tejeiro, Meredith Patterson, Matt Ross, John McDonnell, Tuck Milligan and Steven Banks.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,982

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