Working Girl

Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a smart, plucky, investment worker. She tries to climb the corporate ladder, but she's constantly held back by the sexist environment, and her night school college degree. When she is assigned to be Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver)'s secretary, she hoped that things would finally change. She shares a business idea with Katharine. When she finds that Katharine is claiming the idea for herself, Tess takes matters into her own hands.

The subject matter, the style, and the humor is pure 80's. The hair is insane. And there is no accounting for the fashion. It is jaw dropping and unintentionally funny.

As for the story, it's a fairly good happy rom-com from veteran director Mike Nichols. This is possibly Melanie Griffith's best work. She has just enough pluckiness and is a complete sweetheart. Sigourney Weaver is showing her comedic chops. And Harrison Ford is actually a great rom-com leading man.

This is a fabulous movie. Maybe not rocket science, but clever enough! It has an engaging plot, an extremely empathetic heroine, a villainous boss, a cheatin' boyfriend, and a handsome new love interest just stepping into the picture. Get your popcorn ready for the comeuppance story of a lifetime.

The tale revolves around a smart secretary named Tess McGill, who wants to get ahead in the Big Apple but is beaten down by her nasty boss, Katherine, who steals her ideas and passes them off as her own. Fortune smiles on Tess when Katherine breaks her leg during a skiing holiday and Tess is able to 'take charge'...that is, until her boss, who recovers all too quickly, returns. Of course there is also a romance brewing here in the form of a handsome investment banker named Jack Trainer, who just happens to be her boss's boyfriend.

Harrison Ford is his typical dashing, magnetic self in the role of Jack Trainer, but it is the two ladies that make this movie. Signourey Weaver is absolutely villainous as an employee's 'worst nightmare' boss, a lady (no, not a lady) high up the corporate ladder, but lacking any semblance of integrity or kindness toward anyone below her in that ladder. You will be itching to see this nasty snob get her comeuppance.

Above all, Melanie Griffith is brilliant in the role of Tess, every viewer's favorite downtrodden secretary. She's a woman with all the intelligence and skills needed to succeed in the corporate world, but is ill used by those above her who put her down. Many employees out there will identify with Tess, having at some point in their lives been ill treated by a boss, whether male or female, with at least shades of Katherine. Furthermore, Tess will surely gain viewer sympathy regarding her unfortunate experiences with her sleazy live in lover, Mick.

The scene featuring the Staten Island ferry is beautifully done, accompanied as it is by Carly Simon's wonderful Oscar winning song, 'Let the River Run'. What an amazing voice! This is really a fantastic, fun movie. You can't help but love it.

80's at its peak. 80's at it's best. 80's in America. Big hair, big clothes, big dreams. Casting and directing great. Plot with a twist. Fun and watchable like it is expected from the 80's movie.

A pure fantasy served up by Mike Nichols, but a vastly entertaining one.

Melanie Griffith is the secretary with massive hair who pretends to be a corporate business woman when her boss is layed up with a broken leg. The catch is, she finds out she's pretty good at it, and things get complicated when she ends up spearheading a business deal and falling in love with her key partner (Harrison Ford), all the while trying to keep what she's doing from her boss (Sigourney Weaver). It's the kind of movie that could just as easily have been made as a screwball comedy in the 1940s, perhaps with Barbara Stanwyck in the lead role.

The film is a classic in its own small way, one of the best comedies to emerge from the 1980s. Griffith is matched well with her role, so her limitations as an actress don't draw too much attention to themselves. But it's Weaver who steals the show as Griffith's imperious boss. She's a riot as a confident and powerful career woman from hell. And Joan Cusack steals a few scenes of her own as Griffith's best friend and fellow secretary, who sports hair as big as Griffith's and a Joisy accent to boot.

Nichols knows how to direct a comedy so that the funny bits speak for themselves.

Grade: A

Wonderful romance-comedy in the tradition of Capra and Sturges with Griffith perfectly cast as a woman posing as a business mogul to get ahead in the corporate world and spite bitchy boss Weaver, who is simply divine. Ford is especially precious in a rare romantic-comedy as Griffith's partner in business and love interest. The story is creative and witty. Mike Nichols' direction is sharp and in the highest form. The fine supporting cast also features Cusack and the always durable Phillip Bosco. Carly Simon's wonderful song won an Oscar.