Put on your blinkers and give it no deeper thought than you would to a Disney comedy, and The Associate is really quite good entertainment. Indeed it is innocuous and rather mindless. Yet the topic is one that should not be considered lightly. Whoopi Goldberg plays Laurel Ayers, a brilliant Wall Street executive encumbered by traditional gender stereotyping. The story, then, is her struggle to be accepted by her white male peers and the ridiculous lengths to which she is willing to go in order to be accepted. Its a most unfunny topic, yet the movie is highly amusing.

        Actually there is something vaguely familiar about The Associate. As I was walking out I had that feeling of deja vous, I'd seen this flick before. Maybe its a remake of Cinderella, but in The Associate Cinderella is a brilliant African American woman who overcomes all manner of obstacles to go to the corporate ball. Instead of a fairy godmother who appears in a twinkling of stardust to help Cinderella a.k.a. Laurel from her dusty predicament, our heroine helps herself. She creates a business partner who miraculously opens all kinds of doors and performs magic tricks, merely because he is white and male.

        On a less fanciful note, one might imagine this movie is a modernization of the true story of George Sand, set on Wall Street. Or it might be yet another sequel to the popular Herbie movies, with Whoopie Goldberg in the role of the love bug with the mind of its own.

        Wait, I know, its Tootsie or Victor, Victoria. No, its The Little Engine Who Could, who only had to think he could to discover that he could take over the world and be accepted in the upper echelon of a closed door society. Yes, its like any number of fairy tales that have amused us over the years.

        So maybe the reason why this film is not particularly enthralling or gripping is because the role of a career woman struggling to fight sexist oppression is given no more credence than Cinderella or Herbie the love bug. The Associate makes the plight of Laurel Ayers trivial and simplistic, but worst of all, the telling of the tale is arbitrary and formulaic.

        Not that I wish to suggest that The Associate should taken seriously, it is after all, JUST A MOVIE. But when you start to really look at the funniest parts of the film, they are all at the expense of women.

        Bebe Neuwirth's Camilla is wonderfully overplayed as she constantly parades around in her underwear displaying what she thinks are her only assets to help her ascend the corporate ladder. Neuwirth was keen ąto break free from her role as Lilleth on Cheers, and she certainly found liberation in The Associate, if only from her clothes.

        Diane Wiest is delightful as the mousy career minded secretary. But there is something very laboured about her final "last laugh" scene. Indeed, maybe the real failing of The Associate is that it takes a serious issue and gives it the Disney treatment. However, the least effective part of the movie is the whole cumbersome inevitability of it all. But, its a comedy written and directed by white males, so just relax and enjoy it. Whoppie makes it worth the ride.

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