The Company Men ...

The Company Men

Written and Directed by John Wells

This movie pulled me in different ways. On the one hand, I adore the cast. On the other, I hate corporate stooges. Which is what everyone in this movie is. Except for Kevin Costner, who is a blue-collar hero in the truest sense, a role he should play more often.

I found myself simply not caring about any of these somewhat selfish men in suits. These are the enemy, as far as I'm concerned, and while that is purely my hippy side coming out and raging against Corporate America, I am also jealous of the things these guys have. Porches. Huge houses. High-paying jobs.

I'm a writer, for God's sake. Unless I come up with something that makes me the next Stephen King, I'm always going to be middle of the road, money-wise. Right now, my job situation sucks, so my complete lack of care that Ben Affleck, with his $850,000 house and Porsche has lost his job means nothing to me.

Another character, Chris Cooper, a 30-year corporate vet, loses his job and is facing difficult monetary times. If you work somewhere for thirty years and are living beyond your means without a few years of cushion to help you should you find yourself expendable, then that's your problem, I'm sorry.

Finding jobs is not easy. This movie points that out. I'd give anything to have had my beautiful fiance' with me to show how shitty the job market is right now, if only to get her to understand what I go through every day. I would never compare my abilities to that of someone as highly trained as Ben Affleck's character and his MBA and 12 years of corporate experience, however; I can relate to the young guys trying to make their way.

It's hard for me to rate this movie. My knee-jerk, anti-corporate reaction is to pan it, but the acting and overall story is fantastic.

I'll go middle of the road and hand it three out of five stars.