WORKING GIRL
8.5/10
The passing of Mike Nichols late last year makes Fox’s new Blu-Ray release of one of his most satisfying films, WORKING GIRL, an especially bittersweet affair. This beautifully performed late ‘80s comedy launched Melanie Griffith’s career in her Oscar-nominated turn as Tess McGill, a Staten Island secretary trying to work her way up Wall Street.
Kevin Wade’s original script utilizes late ‘80s stereotypes – workaholic yuppies, backstabbing female bosses and aspiring secretaries stuck in the lower levels of corporate living – and crafts a truly entertaining picture that manages to avoid both a broad farcical tone and an obvious “Cinderella” parallel. Instead, “Working Girl” grounds itself in a believable reality as Tess tries to push a stock deal through her new boss (a delicious Sigourney Weaver performance), only to see her take credit for the impending deal. With Weaver’s duplicitous Katharine Parker sidelined with a skiing injury, Tess takes matters into her own hands and negotiates her plan with an executive (Harrison Ford) who just happens to be Parker’s boyfriend.
While some of the characterizations feel slight (especially in regards to Tess’ back story and her colleagues, one of whom is played by Joan Cusack in a role that also generated an Oscar nomination), “Working Girl” is one of director Nichols’ best films. Certainly it’s one of his most entertaining, with a marvelous cast finding just the right note for the material. Griffith shines in what was a star-making performance, though equally fine are Weaver, in a part that could’ve been played with a much broader or heavier hand (see Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” for comparison’s sake), and particularly Ford. Looking spry and thrilled to be in a movie that was neither part of the Spielberg/Lucas cycle or the heavier dramatic pictures (i.e. “The Mosquito Coast”) he was starring in at the time, Ford is right at home in a genre one wishes he worked more often in.
The supporting cast, meanwhile, is chock full of familiar faces – a few just on the cusp of stardom – including Kevin Spacey as a coke-snorting yuppie who Tess has a “job interview” with, and Alec Baldwin, who makes the most of a limited role as Tess’ boyfriend from the old neigborhood. Oliver Platt, Nora Dunn and Philip Bosco fill other roles in a film that never veers into outright comedy, thanks to the grounded performances of a cast working with superior material, and the pitch-perfect direction of Nichols.
Making his second film of 1988 (following the fairly well-received adaptation of Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues”), Nichols opens and closes the picture with sweeping shots of the New York City skyline, bookending the film with the notion that Tess’ story is just one in a million in the greatest city on earth. “Working Girl” may not be viewed as Nichols’ best film, but in a decidedly uneven filmmaking career that would see several misfires in its wake, it’s a picture that’s an exemplary example of Nichols’ work with actors and his understanding of how to play a comedy with a basis in reality, avoiding slapstick and excessive gags. “Working Girl” is ‘80s studio fillmaking at its highest level, and has aged particularly well beyond being just a mere product of its time.
Fox’s no-frills Blu-Ray edition of “Working Girl” looks and sounds fine, with a 5.1 DTS MA mix and 1080p (1.85) transfer doing justice to its cinematic source material. Carly Simon’s score (arranged by Rob Mounsey) is mostly limited to a theme-and-variations treatment on her Oscar-winning song “Let the River Run,” but if you’re going to base a whole score around a single song, at least it’s a good one. Two trailers and TV spots round out a decent catalog release from Fox.
), this is one weird, chintzy movie, made even weirder by one of Jerry Goldsmith's strangest scores from deep within his "drum machine" mid-80's period I detest so much. With a electronic main theme that's kind of like the "Gremlins Rag" re-orchestrated as OOMPA-OOMPA circus music(?!), it ranks with Extreme Prejudice and Mr. Baseball as some of the most obnoxious music he's ever written. There are some classic orchestral Goldsmith action licks towards the end, but ugh, that main there is dated in the worst way. 
And as for the movie, if I want to watch an 80's primate thriller, I'll stick with George Romero's underrated Monkey Shines (wonderful new Scream Factory Blu release for that recently).
As for Link, when Intrada re-issued it a few years back, I listened to the samples, and basically said in the FSM thread devoted to the release, "Have at it, bottle-cap collectors". 
