It’s hard to put into words how much I liked this film.
But here it goes.
It good.
Damn.
Okay, okay, okay.
For those of you who are reading this that aren’t in the know, Working Girl is a 1988 romantic comedy starring Melanie Griffith, (who gets third billing which is horsecrap) Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver (I hardly know her).
Basically there’s this assistant that dreams of being the boss and she gets a new boss (same as the old boss, it turns out) that steals her idea for a company to acquire a radio company to get their foot in the door in broadcast and also avoid a hostile take over from a Japanese company. FUNNY STUFF
But, more importantly the guy that Tess (Griffith) teams up with is Harrison Ford, I mean Jack Trainer.
It’s a perfect romantic comedy farce directed by the incredible Mike Nichols. It earned five Oscar nominations and is an incredible film worth watching.
Here are some yucky bits:
Kevin Spacy is there, he plays a sexual predator, Alec Baldwin is there and he plays a guy that sucks so much that you want him to drown in the Hudson. Both actors are cast perfectly to type.
Also, there’s a weird scene were Tess takes a Valium and Jack takes her to his place because he can’t figure out where she lives. The scene is innocent enough, but the next day he did take her dress off, which I assume the logic is that she’d be more comfortable and the do address the dress and Jack reassures her nothing happened, but it’s still weird and doesn’t age particularly well.
This movie has more physical comedy in it than any movie I’ve seen in ages. This had me stifling laughter in my airbnb as to not disturb the other tenants.
Okay, let’s talk about Harrison.
Harrison is one of my favorite actors, a paragon of midwestern excellence and a better actor than people give him credit for. I regularly forgot it was him in this movie other than this moment where his scene partner is clearly making fun of the way he uses his face.
Harrison is immensely funny as Jack. I truly think he may have been wasted on being an action star. This has kicked off a desire to watch all his rom-coms Sabrina, etc.
It’s no wonder he was nominated for an academy award.
Let’s talk Griffith.
She’s perfect. I’m in love with her in this move. Effortlessly charming and has a Light in her eye that is so rarely seen these days in actors.
She presents an attitude that is so perfectly contrasted by Weaver’s character. That you can succeed in business (by really trying) and by being a woman and playing by your own rules rather than men’s. A nice bit of feminism.
Let’s talk Weaver.
She’s great. She’s always great. She plays a sociopathic boss well. She’s got great comic timing and is a blast to watch And by the end of the movie? You HATE her.
Joan Cusack is also here. A childhood favorite and crush, she plays Tess’s best friend and boy is she good at it. There’s a scene in particular where she pretends to be Tess’s assistant and she delivers an understated, yet hilarious performance in five minutes better than some actors stagger through for two hours. Incredible work.
Okay, so, here’s the thing.
In the end Tess gets to be the big boss.
A side note here, in the scene before she realizes she’s the boss, there’s a scene with Ford and he packs her a lunchbox for her first day as if it’s her first day of school, it’s sweet, charming, deftly played, and I nearly cried.
So Tess is the boss now and the camera zooms out to see she’s one of hundreds in a big business building with people doing business in the business building, because that’s what one does in a building such as that.
Which made me sad.
I mean, good for girl, Girlboss, etc. But, the anti capitalist in me was saddened to see her in such a state. I hope she can find fulfillment outside of work, otherwise she will turn into the very thing that she fears the most: Sigourney Weaver.
I doubt that she will though, she’s got friends, a guy that loves her heaps, and sweet new lunchbox.
PS: There’s a shot where she looks out over the Hudson to the Twin Towers and man is it sad.
The Runtime Is 113 Minutes.