Working Girl

Directed by Mike Nichols, Working Girl follows ambitious secretarial assistant Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) as she climbs her way up the ladder by using the credentials of her boss (Sigourney Weaver’s Katharine Parker) and collaborating on a lucrative deal with Harrison Ford’s Jack Trainer. It’s a fairly conventional setup that’s employed to predominantly entertaining effect by Nichols, as the director, working from a screenplay by Kevin Wade, does a nice job of establishing the affable central character and the myriad of off-kilter figures surrounding her – with this vibe undoubtedly heightened by top-notch efforts from an agreeably eclectic cast that includes Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin, and Philip Bosco. (Griffith is quite good here, to be sure, although Ford’s often captivating turn ensures he remains the picture’s MVP.) The degree to which Tess subsequently becomes a seriously sympathetic and winning protagonist plays a key role in cementing Working Girl‘s success, undoubtedly, while the palpable chemistry between Griffith and Ford’s respective figures ensures that the picture works just as well as a romcom as it does a rags-to-riches story – with the climactic stretch, which expertly merges the various plot threads, packing a far more engrossing punch than one might’ve anticipated and paving the way for a thoroughly satisfying final few minutes. The somewhat cookie-cutter nature of the movie’s narrative is, as a result, hardly as problematic as it easily could’ve been, and Working Girl ultimately does manage to live up to its place as an ingratiating, uplifting bit of irresistible wish fulfillment.

*** out of ****