Company Man (2000)

A high school teacher in the 60s becomes an international spy and becomes involved in a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Directors:

Peter Askin, Douglas McGrath

Writers:

Peter Askin, Douglas McGrath

Stars:

Douglas McGrath, Sigourney Weaver, Paul Guilfoyle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Officer Hickle
Jeffrey Jones	...	Sen. Biggs
Reathel Bean	...	Sen. Farwood
Harriet Koppel	...	Stenographer
Douglas McGrath	...	Alan Quimp
Sigourney Weaver	...	Daisy Quimp
Terry Beaver	...	Mr. Judge
Sean Dugan	...	Skull and Bones Waiter
Grant Walden	...	Older Man
Nathan Dean	...	Younger Man
John Randolph Jones	...	Fobbs
Ryan Phillippe	...	Petrov
Kim Merrill	...	Woman in Line
Merwin Goldsmith	...	Mr. Brisk
Heather Matarazzo	...	Nora

Storyline

A high school teacher in the 60s becomes an international spy and becomes involved in a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro.

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Plot Keywords:

fidel castro | written and directed by cast member | rock 'n' roll | lsd | grammar | 

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Taglines:

A Devious Dictator, a Top Secret Mission, and the Perfect Spies to screw it up.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual humor and drug content

Details

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 May 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Botcsinálta ügynök

Filming Locations:

Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$74,743, 11 March 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$146,028, 6 May 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Foundry Partners, GreeneStreet Films, Intermedia Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This went straight to DVD in the UK.

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Goofs

When Alan first lands in Cuba in the late 1950s, he flies in on a Cessna Caravan, an aircraft that didn't take its first flight until 1982.

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Quotes

Daisy Quimp: [after losing all of her hair] Oh my God! I look like an Oscar!

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Crazy Credits

Several scenes are interspersed during the closing credits.

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Connections

References Our Man in Havana (1959)

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Soundtracks

Entre Risas Copas Y Discos
Written by Severino Ramos Betancourt
Performed by Leo Marini con La Sonora Matancera
Courtesy of PCM Records
By Arrangement with Hacate Entertainment Group, LLC

User Reviews

CIA (and bad grammar), Beware!

Did you know you could get a double agent to confess merely by spending the day correcting his grammar? Neither did I, until I saw this movie.

Douglas McGrath (who also co-wrote and co-directed) is Allen Quimp (yup, rhymes with "wimp"), a nerdy high-school grammar - and sometimes driver's ed - teacher in 1950's America. His over-achieving family think he's a loser and don't understand his all-consuming dream to rid the world of bad grammar. So, one day he tells his father-in-law a little white lie: he's really an agent with the CIA. Pretty soon the whole community knows, including a visiting Russian ballet star (Ryan Phillipe), who wants to defect- to Quimp! One thing leads to another, and the CIA ends up really recruiting Quimp and sending him to Cuba, where he roots out the double agent, becomes involved in several plots to assassinate (or at least humiliate) Castro, and becomes a DJ, playing songs that the CIA take as a coded request to invade the Bay of Pigs.

Never quite "sidesplittingly funny," as the back of the box boasts, but mildly amusing and watchable, with the "mongoose in my shorts" bit being probably the funniest scene in the movie; coming in at a close second is Alan Cumming's rendition of "Diamonds Are a Boy's Best Friend" (don't ask!).

Worth watching mainly for the performances. McGrath is likable as the clueless Quimp; Sigourney Weaver is perfect as Quimp's over-bearing and social-climbing wife. Alan Cumming doesn't seem to have much to do in his scenes, but makes the most of them, amusingly bringing to life his "I-can't-believe-this-guy-was-a-Cuban-dictator" character. John Turturro's character is easily the funniest - an agent who's gone a bit around-the-bend and become a raving lunatic bent on assassinating Fidel Castro- played by Anthony LaPaglia, who wins the "most unlikely casting" prize- which is not to say it wasn't a good choice! Amusing and likable, but never hilarious. This one goes somewhere in the grey area between C+ and B-. (Or two and a quarter stars out of four.)