From Deseret News archives:
Company, The
Film review
The veteran filmmaker followed his delightful comedy "Cookie's Fortune" with the dreadful "Dr. T & The Women." He rebounded with the wonderfully wry "Gosford Park." But now he has returned with its antithesis, "The Company."
This brain-dead, ballet-centric drama is not quite as punishingly bad as "Dr. T." For one thing, the scenes of dance performances by Chicago's Joffrey Ballet company help ensure that it's at least watchable. However, as a dramatic film it fails spectacularly
There's nothing particularly insightful about the same character "insights" already seen in such films as "Flashdance" and "Honey." And "The Company" is paced so sluggishly that you might find yourself dozing during the awkward dramatic pauses between dance scenes.
Despite the title, the film actually follows one dancer, promising ballerina Ry (Neve Campbell, who served as one of the film's producers and even co-wrote the story). After years of training, starvation and struggling to make ends meet, Ry manages to impress the company's perfectionist artistic director, Alberto Antonelli (Malcolm McDowell), which isn't easy.
This really is nothing new, and the clich�d dialogue and one-note characterizations may have you wishing Altman had decided to make a documentary instead.
Perhaps that's why the cast seems so uninspired. Campbell and Franco seem to be going through the motions at least in the dramatic scenes. And McDowell has played this same imperious character so many times that even he's a bore here.
"The Company" is rated PG-13 for scattered use of strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), flashes of partial female nudity and some veiled nudity, some suggestive dance moves, and some brief sexual contact. Running time: 112 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com
Comments
Cast: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco, Barbara Robertson
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