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The Company Men (Film)

by Cara Nash | March 07, 2011 12:10 | Edited March 07, 2011 12:11

Driven by terrific lead performances, moody cinematography and an insider’s feel for details, this is a bruising exploration of a timely subject.

Like last year's bitter comedy Up In The Air, The Company Men is another timely exploration of the human cost of corporate downsizing. But rather than viewing the effects through the calm and cool perspective of George Clooney's corporate assassin, this film looks these downsized employees straight in the eye and asks the searing question that many of us consumed by our work bury deep down and hope that we never have to answer: if you are your work, who are you when your job is taken away?

 

The Company Men follows a number of suits who are gradually fired by the bigwigs at GTX, a manufacturing company in Boston. Initially, we may question whether we'll care that these rich suits have taken a hit to the wallet and their pride. After all, wasn't it smug corporate elites interested in short-term profits who largely contributed to the economic woes of the past few years? However, the three lead actors - Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Ben Affleck - ensure that we do give a damn about them. In top form, each actor imbues his character with an aching sense of anger, shame and humility.

 

Jones plays Gene McClary, a corporate highflyer who's second only to his best friend and GTX's chief executive, James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson). James is ultimately only concerned about the bottom line, and ignores Gene's pleas to reconsider staff cuts. While James is undeniably cold-hearted, it's a credit to the film that it's not out to create villains, but rather to reveal the depressing reality of the modern corporate workplace. James' willingness to trade in friendship for profit is contrasted with Gene's genuine concern for his long-time friend, Phil (Cooper), who, at sixty-something years old, loses his job after having worked his way up from the factory floor. Cooper delivers a tragic, heartbreaking performance.

 

The film shifts between their stories and that of Bobby (Affleck), a top-tier sales manager who's forced to give up his Porsche and golf club membership and move his family in with his folks when he's laid off. Perhaps most humiliating of all, however, is that he has to enter outplacement services. Struggling to find another job in his field, Bobby nails his frustration when he tells his wife, "I don't want to be another asshole with a resume" to which she replies, "You are just another asshole with a resume."

 

The Company Men, however, isn't all doom and gloom. It's also about the way that people pick up the pieces and reassess their priorities and aspirations when they've been knocked down. Midway through the film, Bobby reluctantly takes work in the small construction business run by his brother-in-law, Jack Dolan (Kevin Costner), which marks a turning point for his character. While Costner's salt-of-the-earth working man may seem sentimental on paper, the actor turns in a terrific, lived-in performance, never playing it for nobility.

 

The Company Men marks the directorial feature debut of veteran TV producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing), and it's an impressive one, although at times the film does feel more like a high end television film. Wells often softens edges that he doesn't need to, and drives home points a little harder than is necessary. It is in the film's more nuanced moments that its message is delivered most effectively. It's when Bobby steps into the outplacement office for the first time and eyes its shabby cubicles, or when Phil stays out until 6:00pm so the neighbours won't know that he's been fired, that we - like the men themselves - realise just how far they've fallen.

 

While there's hope among the anguish, The Company Men - driven by wonderfully moody cinematography from The Coen Brothers' regular DOP, Roger Deakins - is largely a sombre affair. This encapsulates its subjects: white-collared men often unable to emotionally open up until it's too late. While this film may not be as digestible or punchy as Up In The Air, it's undoubtedly the more bruising of the two.