tHe cOMpANy Men

“A Great Depression”

They say people go to the movies to escape their lives. But in seeing “The Company Men”audiences might have an experience that’s like 95 minutes of staring straight into a mirror. John Wells’ film begins on the day of the 2008 stock market meltdown where millions of people lost millions of dollars and their jobs. If this movie weren’t depressing it would be incompetent. So to say the depression feels authentic is actually a high compliment, but probably not much of an endorsement.
On screen is the ultimate Hollywood paradox. We have four multi-millionaire Academy Award winning actors (Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner) playing men who are struggling to support their families after losing their jobs and facing possible bankruptcy. Great actors always love to play against type. Here, these great actors get to shine by doing just that. They make their characters’ situations feel desperate and urgent and they each earn our sympathy.
“The Company Men” is a revealing and honest slice-of-life that we’ve all had a taste of over the past couple of years. You will recognize much of the dialogue from conversations you’ve had yourself about the state of our economy. But is this a movie anybody wants to escape to? Probably not right now. But many years down the road, this will be a great reminder of just how fragile the good times can be. It’s a strong film and a truthful mirror of the times we now live in.
Anticipating the difficulty in getting people to the theatres, The Weinstein Company seem to be advertising a very different movie. Their marketing campaign borders on consumer fraud. An ad for the film in the Los Angeles Times shows a shredded title coming out of a shredder. But there is no shredder or shredding of documents in this movie. The ad’s tag line says “when big business is hazardous to your health don’t get mad, get even.” It makes it look like a “Nine To Five”-style comedy! It’s insulting.
“The Company Men” is the story of corporate executives at GTX Global Transportation Systems, a shipbuilding company, who lose their jobs as a result of corporate downsizing following the 2008 crash on Wall Street. It’s a very good film. But to enjoy it, you should not be in the mood to see a screwball comedy.

DVD Double Feature:

In 2000, Ben Affleck appeared in a little-seen financial thriller called “Boiler Room”. Affleck works at a corrupt stock brokerage firm where many of the employees idolize the Gordon Gekko character from the movie “Wall Street”. The movie also stars Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi giving surprisingly strong performances.

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