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Company Man
Paramount Pictures

Company Man reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 18 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 5 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual humor and drug content

Starring Douglas McGrath, Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro, Anthony LaPaglia, Ryan Phillippe, Denis Leary, Woody Allen, and Alan Cumming

A satirical romp set in the early sixties, Company Man is the story of a nerdy Connecticut grammar school teacher who stumbles into becoming a legendary international spy hero in an effort to avoid his nagging wife. (Paramount Pictures)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Peter Askin
Douglas McGrath
 
DIRECTED BY: Peter Askin
Douglas McGrath
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: August 28, 2001 
Video: August 28, 2001 
Theatrical: February 16, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: France / UK / USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
At its best, Company Man hums from one piece to the next, a harmless, good-natured, often silly spoof with a few cutting barbs and a comic showman's love of the well-executed gag.
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50
USA Today Mike Clark
A few chuckles will be had by both the rabble and more learned brains.
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50
Boston Globe Jay Carr
It's not that the film is devoid of honestly earned laughs here and there. The problem is that there are too few of them and that the film can't connect them.
38
Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan
The scenario looms as a brain-dead invitation for the stars to embarrass themselves, and Company Man wastes little time in fulfilling that glum suspicion.
38
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A painfully flat spoof of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
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33
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
If you've always longed to see a Cold War satire done in the hit 'em over the head frantic camp mode of ''Love, American Style,'' then Company Man is the movie for you.
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30
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The script, by co-writers and -directors Douglas McGrath and Peter Askin, is intermittently clever, but their direction is leaden and assassinates every gag with a lethal accuracy the CIA could only hope to achieve.
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30
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Too often we feel that left-out-in-the-cold draft that blows over the shoulder whenever actors appear to be having more fun than the audience.
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30
The New York Times Stephen Holden
Little more than a loose- jointed succession of goofy "Saturday Night Live"-style sketches and sight gags inspired by an actual event that is nearly half a century behind us.
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25
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The political movie satire from hell.
25
San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris
At least one chapter in the yet-to-be-written book "When Bad Movies Happen to Good People" belongs to the folks of Company Man.
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20
Salon.com Charles Taylor
There's nothing worse than a bad farce -- except for this Cuban missile crisis comedy that wastes talent like Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Alan Cumming.
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20
Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
A frenetic spoof of 1961's disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, Company Man is likely to be forgotten quickly by audiences.
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20
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Unfunny comedy. Nearly everyone is terrible except for Cumming, who just does what comes naturally and steals his every scene.
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20
Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
If Company Man were a wreck on the interstate, it would involve multiple cars and at least one jackknifed tanker truck, and traffic would be backed up for miles as passing motorists slow to gawk.
20
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The unfunniest comedy I can recall seeing in ages.
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20
Variety Lisa Nesselson
A consistently silly, occasionally funny but mostly forced account of how a mild-mannered teacher from Connecticut unwittingly triggered the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
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12
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's an arch, awkward, ill-timed, forced political comedy set in 1959 and seemingly stranded there.
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12
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A skin-crawlingly unfunny riff on Woody Allen's "Bananas."
10
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Bracingly unfunny.
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0
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Deadly dull tripe.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

danny w gave it a0:
This is the worst movie I have ever seen and I'm not kidding or stretching the truth. It's horrible. It's not even so bad it's funny, it's so bad it's bad.

Zach Z gave it a10:
How this film is on the list of movies of all-time low scores, i will never understand! This movie is hillarious from start to finsh! Usually I am one to agree with critics, but this time they are just wrong!

Tim gave it a 9:
This movie was absolutely hilarious. Don't listen to the critics; I saw it with a friend a week ago and we still can't stop laughing!

Lacy M. gave it a 7:
Silly and goofy, and lots of fun. Definitely not a high-brow picture, but quite enjoyable. You get the feeling that the stars in this movie are enjoying this as much as you are.

Cedric L. gave it a 10:
The best recent movie in the spirit of "The Pink Panther" (with Peter Sellers).

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