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Working Girl Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 31 Reviews)

Wonderful feel good movie
I love this movie!!! It shows the dog eat dog world of business. Melanie Griffith plays a secretary who wants a better position. She gets a new job with a female boss (Sigourney Weaver) and finally thinks things are looking up. Until she realizes her boss stole an idea of hers and is taking the credit. She ends up doing everything possible to secure a big deal and falls in love with Harrison Ford's character. This is such a touching movie. The girl gets the guy, and she gets the great job opportunity she really wants. The ending is what I like the most. When she tells her new secretary, don't get me coffee unless you get some for yourself too.

Oddly Attracting, Somewhat oddly Deterring.
1988's "Working Girl" had everything to appeal to all different kinds of people, and many things (Including I think the Star), to give a blow to a viewer's love of the movie. Melanie Griffith has done wonderfully in films like "Milk Money", and even "Bonfire of the Vanities"...the infamous star-packed movie that ultimately didn't live up to it's potential. Griffith though was poorly chosen for this role, giving too-much air-headedness if you please, to a character who should've had more on the ball to get where she ended up in the movie. Obviously winning several awards for the role, more people thought differently, but I think that Griffith's lack of knowledge about everything makes the movie a little too fantasy-like. She plays secretary Tess McGill, who strives from the guidence from close friends, struggles from broken relationships and starts to make her way out from behind her desk when she meets and falls in love with successful banker Harrison Ford. The plot line is well thought up, and well played out by the powerhouse actors (Griffith, Ford, Alec Baldwin and Sigourney Weaver). Joan Cusack gives one of a string of her fabulous performances to come in the many years, earning Joan her first Oscar Nomination. A role that was unfairly lost to Geena Davis at the ceremony, leaving Joan still the most unappreciated true talent in the 8 years prior to the film. In my opinion, Melanie Griffith is rescued from dead-air by the charm and wit of Harrison Ford, and the pleasing and wonderful physical and emotional presence of Joan Cusack, playing Griffith's street-wise and comforting friend and collegue. I would've loved to see Joan with more air-time, Griffith with slightly less and maybe a more mature approach to her rise to the top that might have given this great movie even more potential. It's a great, sweet story of love and work though, well played out with a 95% great cast. It's definately worth a few looks, "Working Girl" deserves all the positive feedback it's gotten in 13 years...and Joan deserves her Oscar. My review, I hope not too opinionated.

AFI's Great Love Stories: #91 Working Girl
Now, first off, let me make it clear that I like this movie. Whenever it is on the tube, like it was tonight, I will make a point of watching the end of the film just to see the part where Melanie Griffith's Tess McGill realizes that she has just made her dream comes true and turns her head slowly to look at her office (see: Tear Jerker Scenes, below). Plus Carly Simon's "Let the Rivers Run" is one of her best songs and a great song to open and close this film. But one of the things I remember about this 1988 film is that Griffith received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress instead of Susan Sarandon for "Bull Durham." Griffith is good, but Sarandon was better. For that matter, "Working Girl" is good, but "Bull Durham" is better, which means it should have been on AFI's list. Granted most people would probably take Harrison Ford over Kevin Costner (although it was a closer call back in 1988), but Sigourney Weaver versus Tim Robbins is a real hard call for the third part of the love triangle.

This rags to riches story focuses on secretary McGill, who has her eyes set on moving on up in the world of big business. When she is hired by Katherine Parker (Weaver), Associate Partner for Mergers & Acquisitions at Petty Marsh (good name) she thinks the glass ceiling has opened up. But it turns out her friendly female boss has been stealing her ideas. When Katharine is away, Tess gives herself a make over and starts playing with the big boys, in particular Jack Trainer (Ford), a Partner with Dewey Stone. Of course they end up mixing love and business, but it turns out to be a small world because it seems Jack and Katharine have been dating. The fantastic Joan Cusak plays Cyn, Tess's best bud, while Alec Baldwin is Mick Dugan, who is definitely not the man of Tess's dreams. Keep your eyes open for Kevin Spacey as the lecherous Bob Speck, Olympia Dukakis as the Personnel Director, and David Duchovny as Cyn's Engagement Party Guest.

Tear Jerker Scenes: (1) "No, Miss McGill. That's your office. in there."

Most Romantic Line: Actually the most romantic part is when Jack packs Tess's lunch for her first day of work, but the big lines are: (1) "I have a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?" and (2) "You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not while you're trying to get there. And if you're someone like me, you can't get there without bending the rules." Well, the title is "WORKING Girl," people.

If you like "Working," then check out these other films on AFI's list: #74 "Woman of the Year" and #12 "My Fair Lady." Why? Because "Woman of the Year" is also about the travails of love in the work place and "My Fair Lady" is about transformation. Tess McGill gets bonus points for doing the Galatea bit without the help of Pygmalion.

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