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So much average

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"The Company" was a personal project for Neve Campbell for years. An ex-dancer, she is its producer, writer and star. But the film is not called "The Dancer", so her character is little more a cog in the machinery of The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, where she is a featured dancer.Given that Robert Altman directs, we should not feel surprised that this drama has little of the usual dramatic story arc. Instead, like many Altman projects ("Nashville", e.g.) it feels like a slice of life-more documentary than drama.For fans of ballet, it offers plenty of performance footage and numerous scenes of backstage happenings, if not backstage drama. Campbell picks up a boyfriend (Dave Franco) along the way, but the relationship feels no more important that her constant battle with sore feet. This is cinema verite and those who want the (literally) painful truth about the rigors and rewards of dance will find this film committed to honesty. Or, at least, Neve Campbell's honesty. Despite the prices she has paid for being a dancer, she still loves it.If you want the traditional story arc, see "Center Stage". Instead of rigors and rewards, it offers heartaches and triumphs. "The Company" offers some of that--the scene where a dancer snaps her Achilles tendon is, for me, heart-rending. But the film does not allow that tragedy to remain personal; in the life of the company, the show goes on with little more than a hiccup.Malcolm McDowell is the imperious and impervious director of the company. He plays the part with the traits necessary for his position. He wheedles, he schmoozes, he lays down the law, his law. Much has been written about the use of "My Funny Valentine" as a musical theme. It does feel overused, and the many versions of it unnecessarily draw the viewer's attention. See "Sharkey's Machine" for a better use of the song.I am glad I saw this film, but honestly, at twenty-two minutes in, I realized I had seen it before. I had forgotten the film entirely. This is not to say that it is not worth remembering, just that our lives are filled with many significant days, and the slice-of-life offered by this film is one of them, even with its beautiful moments and the inclusion of Neve Campbell's incandescent intensity.

The Company is, I believe, intended to be a film about dancers, but it winds up being mainly a vehicle for the dancing sequences, which are wonderful. In fact,I find the analogy of a chocolate chip cookie to be the best description-- the dough serves mainly to hold the chocolate chips! Every time I watched this film (I recorded it from a cable channel) I found myself fast-forwarding to the next dance sequence, and wound up making a recording of just the dance sequences so I could watch them without sitting through the material in between! The acting is adequate, but the story line is sparse and one really does not become engaged by the characters. Still, it is worth watching just to see the dancing, and the variety of pieces makes it enjoyable for folks who are not familiar with dance. I especially love the music, particularly the arrangement of My Funny Valentine for the pas de deux in the rain...beautiful!

I was pleasantly surprised with this piece. It was not at all how I had expected it, and was remarkably taken aback, by how brilliantly executed the entire film really was.Neve Campbell, though I'm not a fan, did not add as much to the film as one might expect. It's not focused primarily on her, though she is the star, which is why the film might actually work as well as it does. Some might find it slow, yet I found it to be just the right pace, with just enough romance behind it in the background, to keep you watching.The greatest thing that the film offers, after the fact that it is brilliantly and beautifully filmed, is that it allows the audience to be involved in everything that's going on. It makes you feel as though you're apart of the group, or rather 'The Company'. It's an exceptionally good film, and while there are moments, that do tend to focus almost too much on the dancing sequences, that is after all what this film is all about. Dancing. And more to the point, ballet.James Franco is cute as usual, and although his presence certainly doesn't go unnoticed, he as well as Campbell are mere puppets in the director's film, rather than making you actually feel like they're real characters. Although, I did sense a nice chemistry between the two of them, it still would have been better with more well known, and accomplished actors.If you're not into ballet, this is not a film you are going to like or be excited about. Obviously don't watch it. Basically, it's about dancing, and the company that these people work for. Nothing more or less. If you're looking for a romance, go check out 'Sleepless in Seattle', because this is a dancing movie. The romance part is just on the side.However, if you like realistic films, that make you feel apart of the characters' (in this case dancers') lives, then this is your film.Very good, and pleasantly surprising. Though, it is just a one time watch.

Without a doubt, this is the worst movie I've ever seen. I was busing across central Mexico in hot pursuit of uniformed Mexican schoolgirls and the escaped Boris Yeltsin and was forced to watch this awful movie. My traveling companion, Carlos Caliente, who is an avid fan of the ballet and tights in general, expressed his disgust early on in this movie, noting its lack of character development, plot, Neve Campbell's exposed melons, and overall shittyness. After the ridiculous final Olmec-head-eating-dancers scene we thought the pain was over. To our horror, the movie was replayed again! Blast! I would have rather ridden a chicken bus to Hell than be damned to such a fate as seeing the Company twice in one sitting. My suggestion to you, amigos, is 1) promptly punch in the face anyone you ever meet who even remotely liked this film, 2) never take anything but the first class executive bus, and 3) always buy your bras and panties from large piles in the streets of Mexico, D.F. BORIS, I WILL FIND YOU YET!!!