hyped garbage

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film is a brutally accurate portrayal of a major social crisis, the gradual elimination of the middle class, closing and moving plants to low wage countries and ruthless business practices which are more about satisfying the stockholders than pleasing the customers. It's really very good and very graphic. But! Mainstream movies ultimately are made to attract audiences and make money. Nobody who has been laid off or who fears being laid off or "downsized" would want to see this. I'm retired and don't face those pressures any more. Yet even I was thoroughly depressed watching this film. It is grim, realistic, cruel stuff without a single humorous scene or funny line. That may make it a meaningful social document. But it also guarantees a box office flop.

I'm reviewing this movie because I experienced redundancy recently but was lucky enough to be able to retire. Those who haven't been so lucky may find it painful viewing as I thought it really got to grips with reality. In fact this is one of the more enjoyable films that I have seen recently due to it's honesty. American movies (I'm English) often have a gloss to nasty situations but I found this very refreshing in its no-nonsense handling of a very painful subject, redundancy. In fact I found it riveting from beginning to end, mostly due to good directing, a tight script, beautiful photography, and splendid acting from Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Ben Affleck, Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson and in particular in a small supporting role, an absolute knockout I thought, Kevin Costner. Highly recommended movie.

John Wells' 2010 drama "The Company Men" came out at the right time it needed to come out…during the Great Recession. It's all about the effects of the Great Recession on the American people. As far as that aspect is concerned, "The Company Men" accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, inform us of its effects. Unfortunately, that's all it does well and what's worse, this film came out a little too late to truly make a huge impact on the audience. It doesn't help that a better film on the Great Recession called "Up in the Air" came out a year earlier. We follow three employees (Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper) who have been let go from the same corporation due to downsizing in the midst of the recession. One (Affleck) sees his life of luxury with his wife and kids deteriorate as a result of being let go and being unable to find jobs that suit his needs. It gets to the point where he might have to rely on his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner) to help him out. One (Jones) has been friends with the CEO (Craig T. Nelson) since the very beginning, but now finds this friendship challenged due to the CEO's inconsistent future plans. And the third one (Cooper) is severely struggling to find a new job due to his old age. This film basically follows the paths that these three take to get back to normal. "The Company Men" does its part at informing us of how harmful the Great Recession is to the lives of the American people. The story is told decently and maintains its focus on whom the story should be focusing on: the three main characters or at least the crucial people in each of their lives. While I wouldn't say that there were any standout performances in this picture that I could really praise, the actors do their best at taking their roles seriously and giving them the respect they deserve. The problem I had with "The Company Men" is that it's straight up boring. The characters we have to spend time with just feel bland and forgettable. There's no real complexity to their personalities and there's nothing unique about these people that I've seen in other movies. Ben Affleck's character comes to mind when naming a surprisingly one-dimensional storyline. While the story tackles relevant subject matter, it's executed in a predictable and unsurprising manner. Because the characters are dull, we're sort of watching something that keeps moving along but doesn't emotionally impact us in the slightest. We know exactly what will happen at least 10 seconds before it happens. We know what the outcomes for the characters and the future relationship between certain characters will be. We pretty much know how everything will pan out, so there's no real point in even watching this film if that's how we feel about it. "The Company Men" doesn't do anything awful besides having a predictable story and cardboard characters. If you'll settle for a film that informs at a relevant time, this does what it's designed to do. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Having some experience with corporate America and being fired I was eager to see this. While I did relate to and appreciate some elements, the problem is you can see where this movie is going a mile away. The main character has a metamorphosis from ego driven career man until he gets what's really important in life...ya know the kind of stuff he should have understood before he got fired. While the Ben Affleck character is compelling, it's still too hard to make the white collar exec losing his job into a sympathetic story. Other character's fate you can see a mile away while the Chris Cooper character killing himself. And to make the one prominent female employment sleep with one of the executives hearkens back to old fashioned movie sexism where most successful females were portrayed as ruthless women who would sleep their way to their top if they have to (and this is coming from a guy). And giving Kevin Costner a Boston accent is strange casting indeed. A noble attempt but ultimately this movie is about as satisfying as a trip to the unemployment office.