THE concept of 'a job for life' no longer exists. business has become survival of the fittest; make one slip and there is always someone younger, faster and hungrier waiting to taking your place.

Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) has been lucky: he has worked most of his adult life at the prestigious, weekly Sports America magazine, where he is head of the ad sales team.

His colleagues and clients adore his laid-back, warm and honest approach to business; they are his family and he takes care of each and every one of them.

Having celebrated the magazine's biggest year yet, Dan is pleasantly shocked to learn that his wife Ann (Marg Helgenberger) is pregnant. Not only that, his eldest daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) has been accepted at New York University, and she will soon be flying the family nest to forge her own (expensive) path in life. Family finances will be tight but if Dan takes out a second mortgage, they should just about cope.

To Dan's horror, Teddy K (Malcolm McDowell), the ruthless and charismatic chairman of Globecom, successfully launches a takeover bid of Sports America's publishers, and Dan is demoted to make way for 26-year-old whiz kid Carter Duryea (Topher Grace).

The veteran is incredulous about this dramatic turn of events - his new boss has no experience in ad sales - but Dan has a mortgage to pay and so he reluctantly accepts the position of Carter's 'wing man'. Somehow, they have to work together to cut the department's budget while meeting Globecom's mandate of increasing revenue by three per cent.

This is only the beginning of Dan's woes because when Alex meets Carter, their attraction sparks an affair. Suddenly, Dan faces the terrifying prospect of his daughter dating his boss!

In Good Company confirms Grace's status as one of the most exciting and watchable actors of his generation. Building on the success of Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, he demonstrates impeccable comic timing here but also provides the film with its emotional heartbeat.

There is a lovely screen chemistry with Johansson and a really rather touching father-son relationship with Quaid, playing his family man's mid-life crisis to the hilt. "If you ever give my daughter an alcoholic beverage or a joint, I will hunt you down and neuter you!" Dan barks down the telephone to his youngest child's boyfriend.

Writer-director Paul Weitz (About A Boy) sensibly avoids any pat, neat resolutions, preferring a bittersweet yet life-affirmimng conclusion that remains true to the characters.

Rating 7.5/10