If there was to be a sequel to Michael J. Fox's mildly humorous Secret Of My Success then this would surely be it.

Picking up on every cliché going in the Corporate Greed Vs. The Little People genre, In Good Company survives thanks to the collective charms of the cast more so than the far-from-inventive narrative.

Dennis Quaid is Dan Forman, a big shot advertising executive at a high-brow sports magazine.

Life isn't a bed of roses for Dan, but he gets by as well as any middle-aged parent dealing with the troubles a teenage daughter (Scarlett Johansson) can bring.

At work things take a turn for the worse, however, when his magazine is taken over by a rival company led by Teddy K (an uncredited Malcolm McDowell).

Teddy then elects to demote Dan and replace him with 26-year-old go-getter Carter Duryea (Topher Grace).

Living in fear of the bank and his family's well being, Dan takes the demotion on the chin and thus faces a life that bears little resemblance to the one he had pictured for his family.

And as if demotion wasn't enough of a hook to hang the drama aspect on, it just so happens Carter is dating Dan's daughter, Alex.

What this movie lacks is a good dose of originality. A slight twist in the third act cannot redeem a story that lacks invention. And while that may be enough to leave any movie for dead, it actually doesn't matter as much as you might think.

This is completely down to the cast - Dennis Quaid is his usual affable self, and somehow makes the material more interesting than perhaps it ought to be.

And he is not alone. Scarlett Johansson may have made her name with more independent fare, but in a mainstream Hollywood rom-com/ drama she actually does a very good, if not particularly inspiring job.

Able support from the likes of McDowell and the likeable David Paymer play a part in making a well-worn formula seem a lot more than the sum of its parts.

Some intelligent script writing exists in the face of the transparency of the plot. The comparisons drawn between Dan's sales techniques to that of the new hotshot go a long way to justify the case of hiring senior people for senior positions.

Let it be said that this is a movie about corporate greed as much as anything else, but it's worth bearing in mind that such a greedy corporation brought it to you in the first place.

Perhaps that is why this is a sugar coated affair in comparison to the real movies about corporate America – In The Company Of Men and The Corporation.

Take it as a rom-com however, and find yourself the right company to go with.

Rich Phippen