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| Movie Review: The Company Men Alternate Title: You Are What You Do
Story: The financial meltdown
that erupted across this land in September of 2008 is the core of this
film. How it effects the lives of three men, who all worked for a company
called GTX out of Boston is it's structure. It was written and directed
by first timer John Wells who is best known for his
work on TV (ER, The West Wing). In order to save the bottom line of this huge
corporation the layoffs begin. Bobby Walker, a cocky 37 year old top
salesman gets the axe and his behavior makes it difficult to sympathize
with him at all at the beginning. Phil Woodward, an almost 60ish man
also gets the axe and is devastated. Gene McClary, co-founder of the
company gets his walking papers and handles it best - perhaps because
he has the most money saved. We watch these men go through the five stages
of grief with varying degrees of success. The women in the film have
truncated roles and tend to be as stereotypical as the men. Even though the film is formulaic and feels more
like it could have been a fine made for TV movie it makes a point. My
movie buddy and I kept sinking lower and lower in our seats. At one
point my movie buddy said to me 'The film is making me sad' - I retorted
'It is making me hungry' and pulled out my lunch. Should you go see this? It is not a waste of
100 minutes but you can wait for it to be on Cable. A better use of
your time and money is to go see 'Inside Job' http://www.judithwolfe.com/lobosmoviereviews/reviews/insidejob.html
and see how this financial debacle happened. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPohmhNFwi4 Acting: Everyone plays their stereotypical roles just
fine including: Tommy Lee Jones (Gene McClary), Ben
Affleck (Bobby Walker), Chris Cooper (Phil
Woodward), Maria Bello (Sally Wilcox), Rosemarie
DeWitt (Maggie Walker), Kevin Costner (Jack
Dolan), Craig T. Nelson (James Salinger) and Eamonn
Walker (Danny Mills). Trivia: Director and writer John Wells is
an American theater and television producer, writer and director. He
is best known for his role as executive producer and show runner of
the television series ER, Third Watch, and The West Wing. Wells is also
a labor leader, and was elected president of the Writers Guild of America,
West in 2009, after serving a prior term in that office from 1999–2001
Predilection: None
Critters: None
Food: A Thanksgiving meal, Cobb Salad and rib eye
steak were ordered but were not seen eaten.
Sex Spectrum: Sex is implied but not shown.
Blatant Product Placement: Lots of product placement
including Porsche, Titleist, Marlboros, Glenlivet, Sierra Nevada and
Apple.
Soundtrack: Predictable
Opening Titles: A nice montage of the three main
characters getting ready for work leaving their very privileged houses
and driving their fancy cars.
Visual Art: Three Degas'
Theater Audience: Three other people and us.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: 0
Drift Factor: I didn't drift but did look at my watch
after only one hour.
Predictability Level: High
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental is fine.
Length: 100 minutes
LOBO HOWLS: 7 |