Company Business

Rating:
Summary: Well "I" liked it!
Review: After the one star review, I'm feeling kind of stupid. I enjoy this movie. (Present tense. I have a videotape from TV or someplace that I watch occasionally). I'd like to get it on DVD for my RV collection. I like the larger than life characters. One guy makes a statement at the very beginning about Hackman's character, "I hate these old guys. They're always thinking," or something to that effect. Multiply it by two old guys, and it turns into fun. The has-been look they give to the participants, from the Saudi financier-money launderer, who has even been forced to sell the gold fixtures in his bathroom to survive, to the documents forger in a dingy loft adds to the tongue-in-cheek spy atmosphere. The US and Soviet agents chasing the Hackman and Baryshnikov characters have to go way back in their computer histories to find logical accomplices to catch the "old guys." Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Well "I" liked it!
Review: After the one star review, I'm feeling kind of stupid. I enjoy this movie. (Present tense. I have a videotape from TV or someplace that I watch occasionally). I'd like to get it on DVD for my RV collection. I like the larger than life characters. One guy makes a statement at the very beginning about Hackman's character, "I hate these old guys. They're always thinking," or something to that effect. Multiply it by two old guys, and it turns into fun. The has-been look they give to the participants, from the Saudi financier-money launderer, who has even been forced to sell the gold fixtures in his bathroom to survive, to the documents forger in a dingy loft adds to the tongue-in-cheek spy atmosphere. The US and Soviet agents chasing the Hackman and Baryshnikov characters have to go way back in their computer histories to find logical accomplices to catch the "old guys." Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Company Business disappoints
Review: Can you say stinkburger? Somebody forgot to write about half the script for this spy thriller set on the eve of the fall of the Soviet Union. Imagine a espionage movie where you not only don't meet the bad guy, you only catch a glimpse of him early in the film.

So why are aging U.S. investigator Sam Boyd (Hackman) and the recently-sprung-from-prison Russian spy Pyiotr Grushenko (Baryshnikov) cavorting buddy style through Berlin and Paris? Well, it seems Boyd has been assigned to a hush-hush swap of Grushenko and 2 million dollars for a former U.S. war hero captured long ago by the Soviets. The transfer goes afoul, making captor and captive into a buddy team that doesn't ever quite mesh. The CIA and the KGB ( it is their "company" business the film takes its title from) bungle their way around the pair of uneasy comrades throughout Europe, trying to achieve something - we're not quite sure what - since the value of this American pilot and his return are never really explained. If our intelligence agency is this stupid - we're all in big trouble.

Not even the considerable acting talents of Gene Hackman and the aging sex appeal of Mikhail Baryshnikov can provide enough interest to keep you from snoozing through this plotless wonder. Add in the totally forgettable debut of Geraldine Danon as Baryshnikov's "love interest" who really isn't - and you've got a "Company Business" that should never have gone public in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Company Business disappoints
Review: Can you say stinkburger? Somebody forgot to write about half the script for this spy thriller set on the eve of the fall of the Soviet Union. Imagine a espionage movie where you not only don't meet the bad guy, you only catch a glimpse of him early in the film.

So why are aging U.S. investigator Sam Boyd (Hackman) and the recently-sprung-from-prison Russian spy Pyiotr Grushenko (Baryshnikov) cavorting buddy style through Berlin and Paris? Well, it seems Boyd has been assigned to a hush-hush swap of Grushenko and 2 million dollars for a former U.S. war hero captured long ago by the Soviets. The transfer goes afoul, making captor and captive into a buddy team that doesn't ever quite mesh. The CIA and the KGB ( it is their "company" business the film takes its title from) bungle their way around the pair of uneasy comrades throughout Europe, trying to achieve something - we're not quite sure what - since the value of this American pilot and his return are never really explained. If our intelligence agency is this stupid - we're all in big trouble.

Not even the considerable acting talents of Gene Hackman and the aging sex appeal of Mikhail Baryshnikov can provide enough interest to keep you from snoozing through this plotless wonder. Add in the totally forgettable debut of Geraldine Danon as Baryshnikov's "love interest" who really isn't - and you've got a "Company Business" that should never have gone public in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Business without much profit.
Review: The ultimate example of Hollywood acknowledging the end of the cold war era. CIA and KGB agents racing around Europe together hunting down two of their own men. Due to a few mess-ups that are too long winded to get into, Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshinov end up running around Berlin at about 4 O'clock in the morning with two million dollars and a road map that neither can read. Hackman is, as always, Brilliant as the "old guy" ex CIA agent called back into service to oversee the swap of a former KGB agent for an American being held in Russia. The film itself though lacks any plausibility. For example, we see the chief of the CIA and his Russian equivalent marching up and down stairwells in the Eiffel Tower, dodging bullets and intimidating witnesses on shady street corners at knife point and, in the dark! Realistic? Definitely not. If this is meant to be a comedy then its simply not funny. If its meant to be serious espionage stuff, then just watch it to see the lack of common sense thought that went into its making. Why the 3 stars? The acting all round is fairly convincing (espicially Hackman) and the basic plot is original. Unfortunately though the film doesn't live up to a storyline which could have showed a lot of potential.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable & great teaming
Review: Yes, this "Company Business" is a bit hokey and implausible, but I enjoyed it for the one time teaming of Gene Hackman with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Hackman is right in his element and delivers a solid performance. Baryshnikov is also quite good in one of the few if only film roles where he isn't a dancer. The plot isn't a total dud by any means and has a lot of twists and turns (even if you don't want to examine any of this too closely) along with a least one double-cross, which keeps it moving along and kept me guessing the outcome the first time I saw it. But hey, what James Bond plot is plausible either so I think this is a film you really tune in to see first and foremost because you like the stars and want to see the two of them. But if you don't like Hackman or Baryshnikov, then don't waste your time.