As of this writing, Whoopi Goldberg is one of the spokespeople for happy singlehood; her book, If Someone Says “You Complete Me,” RUN!: Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships, is present on my bookshelf. And while she’s been in a few romcoms, she also starred in the pro-single Sister Act and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
The Associate may be the most pro-single of her films I’ve seen yet. Goldberg plays Laurel Ayres, a badass Wall Street type. She knows her investments, but she’s been passed over for a promotion to a bore named Frank, whom she’s trained. Her gender and race have everything to do with it, even if that’s not what her superiors say.
She quits to start her own outfit and is joined by Sally, a technologically savvy secretary who’s been overlooked by the Boys Club that is the Wall Street firm. Potential clients like her ideas but don’t take her seriously because she’s a Black woman. To remedy this, she creates a partner, a white man named Robert Cuddy. Suddenly, he’s the talk of the investment world. The movie follows predictable beats, where her ruse gets her firm into trouble and then she finally has to come clean. By the end, the investment world appears to have accepted her on her own terms.
The unpredictable beat: the lack of a romantic subplot. Laurel is single at the film’s start and at the film’s end, very unusual for a 1990s comedy. She owns a building that she rents to tenants. A Boomer woman says, “It’s nice you girls have your careers, but wouldn’t it nice to come home to a man?”
Ayers responds, “I like the independence.”
“It’s overrated. I’m making hot cocoa, and you’re not invited.”
“I’ll be up in five minutes, and I’ll expect those little marshmallows.”
Well, Laurel does own the building. Way to flex your power!
This aspect of the film was way ahead of its time. With more women becoming empowered by saying “I don’t,” The Associate would do quite well today.