Company Man (2001)

COMPANY MAN, cowritten and codirected by Douglas McGrath (EMMA) and Peter Askin, is an AUSTIN POWERS meets THE PINK PANTHER screwball farce about the 1959 Cuban revolution. Allen Quimp (McGrath) is a bumbling, gee-whiz high school teacher in 1950s Connecticut who believes grammar instruction is his gift to society. Quimp’s grasping wife, Daisy (Sigourney Weaver), however, has higher aspirations for him. In classic THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT mode, Daisy desires a highly paid husband who can provide a better lifestyle. Desperate to impress her, Quimp pretends to have a secret life as a CIA agent. When Quimp accidentally helps a visiting Russian dancer, Petrov (Ryan Phillipe) defect, the CIA actually does hire him, so they can claim credit. "The Company" ships Quimp off to Havana, Cuba, where Agent Fry (Denis Leary) and Chief Lowther (Woody Allen)--who has some of the film's funniest lines--studiously ignore the impending revolution. However, when Fidel Castro (Anthony LaPaglia) overthrows General Batista (Alan Cumming), the fanatical, chest-bumping Agent Johnson (John Turturro) convinces Quimp to help him assassinate the Cuban dictator. With hilarious performances from Allen and Turturro, COMPANY MAN puts a slapstick, revisionist spin on Castro's rise to power.