Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

After watching "In The Company of Men" it left me with an awful taste in my mouth. But at the same time it was a great movie watching experience as we examine the more lower depths of how inhumane we can really be as a society and yet still somehow manage to get with doing our actions. The strange irony is that this film runs at very unreasonable levels. The two leading male characters are couple of hateful humans that it in-spite of their wicked demeanour, I still seemed quite intrigued as what will transpire between these characters. Neil LaBute who wrote and directed this film gave freedom to the movie to just let things flow and avoids it from being preachy or overly moralizing. To me it makes this comedy all the more darker and at the same time more effective too.This tale focuses on a businessman named Chard (Aaron Eckhart), who without hesitation brutally confesses to his friend Howard (Matt Malloy) how much he despises all that is female. So then Chard persuades Howard into a scheming plot in which they're lead on a vulnerable woman and eventually when all is said and done, he will dump her. Chad's reason is a vicious plot at revenge due to the ways women have treated men. Chad assumes that their six-week hiatus to a satellite office is the perfect facility to carry this cruel scheme and while at that take the time to make a mockery on this poor victim at her expense. Howard himself goes along with the scheme feeling that this master-plan will backfire and through self-obligation, sides with Chad to see what will transpire. The plan starts to materialize as the lab rat for this scheme is a naive, shy secretary named Christine (Stacy Edwards) who works at the satellite office who is also deaf. The whole film, Chad and Howard take turns charming Christine, while that's progressing, their scheme starts to get out of control and takes its turns in expected turn of events.The manipulative schemes the men have on poor Christine are very deceitful that it's hard to watch at times. In the case of Chad, the plot is an attempt to emerge victorious as a ploy to further express his disdain to the female gender. Howard feels this scheme is unlawful, it more like to be aware of what's inside looking out instead of vice-versa. The audience and even Hoawrd himself know this plot will not work out. In most movies and T.V. shows they never do. But it's still intriguing in how this plan will come crashing down on them. And we hope that there might be a small fragment of humanity between Chad and Howard. Sure the outcome is predictable, but it's still fun to watch how it will backfire. The reason for dark comedy isn't the jokes or the action by the leading stars, but the laughter rests in the vicinity of what lengths people will go to to express how hateful we as human race truly are.The character-driven film scores high points in terms of depth. In addition to that it makes us reconsider our actions by what we say and do I'm glad that Mr. LaBute ended the film with a moral lesson or a perfectly wrapped happy ending. In the end in this case, the antagonist comes out the winner. And in the real world, bad people usually end up victorious in many situations. Granted Chad is a handsome individual and can wow the ladies with his charm quite easily. But at the same time time he's hypocritical, obnoxious and quite the condescending person who looks a nice person you want to punch in the mouth with. But he is still easy to identify with. There are a lot of Chad's out there And yet you feel sick to your stomach because you understand the psyche of this character so in the end I'm the jerk that has the egg on his face. The whole Chad, Howard and Christine love factor has some noteworthy things of interest here. You have two to put it loosely gentlemen of contrasting backgrounds. You have Chad, the handsome, suave ladies man, and then you have Howard who comes across as socially awkward who like most people of his kind in society are the one's who never come out on top (me included). And it's obvious Christine chooses the suave one over the awkward one. Matt Malloy was excellent portraying Howard. At fist he come across as an introverted individual. However, in the pivotal scenes in the end, it's a breath of fresh air when he lashes out when his buttons are pushed.Once the dust settles, we find these two jerks madly in love with Christine being the unlucky victim due to her being deaf. Both fall victim to the metaphoric love potion. Chad is at a loss of words to admit he loves her while Howard feels short that lost in a situation where he should have won. But in spite of the shortcomings within the characters, it is a wonderful character-driven story that might be hard to swallow in some situations.

In the Company of Men is a movie that makes one consider his or her actions after watching. The film puts the human conscience to the test by illustrating an exaggerated example of how heartless people can be at times. The film centered around three main characters. Aaron Eckhart played Chad, the arrogant, back-stabbing and ruthless bad guy. Christine, played by Stacy Edwards, was the first of Chad's "victims" of cruelty. Matt Malloy played Howard, a man who thought Chad was his friend.In early portions of the film, the theme appears to be revenge upon women by scorned men. However, as the plot thickens, the true theme of the film reveals itself. It turns out that Chad is planning to hurt anyone he can. The real theme of the film is that some people care about only themselves. Chad is a classic case of one of those people. Throughout the film, he carefully executes a plan to hurt Christine, a deaf woman who has not dated in a long time, due to her handicap. He uses Howard to help in the act of hurting Christine.Chad eventually accomplishes his main goal. However, Howard develops feelings for Christine and tells her that he and Chad had set out to hurt her from the beginning. He also tells her that he has fallen in love with her, although she never gives him a chance to prove that. As a result, Howard ends up being hurt as well.As the plan to hurt Christine comes to fruition, other subplots become evident. Smaller examples of the theme come to light. Chad organizes a series of events that lead to Howard being demoted from his position in the company he and Chad work for. It was no coincidence that Chad eventually was promoted to Howard's position.As the viewer watches Chad's plans unfold, certain elements of film production can be detected as enhancers of the theme. For example, the music between scenes is bold and loud. It gives one the impression that something ominous is going to happen. The music seems to create an element of building tension. One anticipates a huge event of a bad nature.The camera angles chosen for many of the scenes make Chad seem very powerful and evil. The scenes that use upward views of Chad and Howard together are particularly persuasive toward creating this impression. The various angles used in the date scenes between Chad and Christine further emphasize Chad's lack of conscience.The theme of this film, and the execution of the theme, is very similar to that found in The Usual Suspects. Both films focus on a character that is deceiving people purposely. They are also similar, in that the "villain" is not found out by the other characters until the end of the movie. The only difference is that Chad is not so eager to get away clean with his acts. He seems to be proud of his actions, and willingly tells Howard what he has done.This film's theme is one that makes some consider their actions, while it makes others strive to achieve such power. The effect it has on you should say something about the kind of person you are. It made me consider how awful it feels to be hurt. Those involved in making this film have put together a powerful piece that, while lacking in action, forces people to examine themselves and others.

As a drama this film was a descent morality play about office games. It was Well acted, had adept cinematography, and appropriate sound and music. There was an emotional payoff at the end but I found it too week for the buildup.Expecting a comedy: I found nothing redeeming. the jokes (and there weren't many) were not funny and I don't think they were intended to be. the jokes were examples of how screwed up the main characters were. without any humor the film was a progression of awkwardness and abusive behavior by a sociopath and his coworker. When I finished this movie I was angry that it ended up on my mail order movie Que and went to the internet to check if the next one was as bad.

Wow, Neil LaBute doesn't like people much, does he? Just a couple of days after seeing his superb 2003 effort "The Shape of Things", I decided to watch his first film and Sundance hit "In the Company of Men". This makes the bleak, misanthropic "The Shape of Things" look like "Singin' in the Rain". The IMDb plot summary says it all: Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.The avowed misogynist is Chad, played by Aaron Eckhart in one of the most subtly effective male performances of all time. Chad, this character, is probably the most purely evil character ever portrayed on film. Sure, there are psychos, sickos, nuts who chop people up, but they're really not all that real, and sometimes it's because they're not sane. Chad's real, and Chad's sane. When asked why he did it near the end of the film he says, coldly, 'because I could'. That's pure evil right there- a phenomenon we'd love to think is rare but which really isn't.The film is not a 'comedy' as the IMDb page suggests. I find the suggestion to be absurd and idiotic. Sure, there is dark humor here, and it is ultimately satirical, but it is at least as much a drama as a comedy and in my own perception far more significantly a drama. The film confronts head-on the male-driven workplace and its victimization of women, it confronts head-on the brand of misogyny that isn't uncommon among the white male businessman in North America today. That's not to say these characters, and the situation, aren't exaggerated. Sure they are, but that's a perfectly conscious, acceptable decision by the writer. The important thing is that the characters feel real, and that it is entirely possible for something like this to happen. Like "The Shape of Things" LaBute's screenplay is in-your-face and clear-cut about what it's trying to say. That there are people out there still having indignant 'it's so misogynist!' reactions to this film is amazing, they have to be either incredibly stupid or maybe they just weren't paying attention. Oh, I'm sure guys like Chad loved watching the film in spite of what it was trying to say because they supported his actions, but that doesn't change the fact that Chad is the villain in the film. Howard's a victim as well, not to the degree that Christine is, but still a victim. Without any overacting or psychotic antics, Eckhart embodies a significantly real, cold sort of evil which the movies rarely feature. This movie may feel a bit pointless in the end, because it's basically about how incredibly awful us human beings can be to each other, and how naive the victims amongst us are, but it's a terrific screenplay and film regardless.