The Company Men

In high school it’s about getting into a good college, then it’s about being at the top of your class. After graduation, it’s landing a prestigious job and then climbing up the corporate ladder. Better money, better toys, marriage, kids, mortgage; it’s all about having the best and looking successful. Then, the music stops and all you have left is stuff.
 
They call it the rat race because you can’t stop and that wheel has to keep turning. It’s all about the next best thing and keeping what you have. The Company Men is a fictional film focused on one corporation. Now a public company, in order to show profits, they have merged departments and cut their workforce. But these men and women who have just lost their jobs are the very men and women who built up the company in the first place. No one is immune, no one is safe, and so everyone who is left is looking over his or her shoulder waiting for the axe to fall.
 
Tommy Lee Jones plays Gene McClary a top executive for an international transportation company. He and his college best friend, Craig T. Nelson started the company years ago and now they are reaping the benefits. James Salinger (Nelson) is the owner of the company, but when you go public, the stockholders are now who you work for. The downsizing is Salinger’s idea and he is ruthless. “We are a business, not a charity”, he would roar. “They got their paycheck. We don’t owe them anything.”
 
Ben Affleck plays Bobby Walker, regional sales manager. After twelve years of bringing the company their top clients he is now out on his ear. Also gone is thirty year veteran Phil Woodward, Chris Cooper. He started on the manufacturing floor and worked his way up through the ranks. Bobby Walker is convinced that he’ll find a new job right away, but Phil is almost sixty. For him, this is the end of his life.
 
The company has provided all its ousted employees with a job placement service and Bobby Walker has been going everyday. He was sure that there was something out there for him, but the competition has been fierce. Weeks have turned into months and now Bobby is getting desperate. He sold his Porsche, walked away from his mortgage and now his wife and kids are living with his parents. Finally, at his lowest point, he has humbled himself and has gone to his brother-in-law to beg for a job doing construction. Jack Dolan, Kevin Costner has taken on a money-losing renovation project just to keep his crew working through the winter. He knows what it’s like to not be able to provide for your family. He offered Bobby a job before, but he was too proud to take it. Bobby has just learned that his brother-in-law is not such a bad guy.
 
This is one film in which Tommy Lee Jones’ hangdog expression really fits the part. He disagrees with the downsizing of the company and thinks they should ride things out. He’d rather go a year with no growth than layoff his work force. He sees these people not as company assets, but as individuals. These layoffs are killing him and he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He now looks around him and sees all the executive perks as distasteful. That painting could pay somebody’s mortgage and that lunch at the club could feed a family for a week. McClury doesn’t even enjoy all these luxuries. He’s a simple man at heart. But how can he help all those who have been so callously thrown away. McClury is heavy in thought looking for an answer.

The Company Men as a film gives no answers, but rather it’s a record of our current economical situation. It’s like a mirror being held up to our culture. Will it strike a chord, and will it incite change? The answer is, probably not. But just talking about it does help and we have to know that this crisis is temporary. In the movie Ben Affleck’s character calls his HR rep (Maria Bello) everyday just to cuss her out. When his friend says, “Man, that’s not going to get you anywhere.” Ben replies, “yeah, but it sure makes me feel good.” That’s what this film is about. It’s cathartic. Sometimes you just have to cuss.

Rating: First Run Sometimes you just have to cuss