The Company Men

As a victim of the ‘Great’ financial crisis of 2008 I was interested to see how Hollywood would portray the events that wiped a combined $3.3 trillion from the world economy. The Company Men follows three main characters who are all laid off…

As a victim of the ‘Great’ financial crisis of 2008 I was interested to see how Hollywood would portray the events that wiped a combined $3.3 trillion from the world economy.

I was also interested to see what my reaction would be when it finally did come out due to my own redundancy and extended unemployment.

The Company Men follows three main characters who are all laid off from a division of GTX Corporation.

The movie centres around Ben Affleck’s character, Bobby Walker – a young corporate executive who doesn’t mind letting people know exactly how well he is doing until he is let go in the first round of redundancies. He is predictably defiant about his prospects of getting a new job initially but as his period of unemployment extends and the family’s savings dry up he is forced to face that maybe he isn’t the invincible corporate warrior that he thought he was. While his ego won’t let him accept that circumstances have changed at first it quickly becomes apparent that the Porsche, the house and the country club membership all have to go and are eventually replaced by the spare bedroom at his parents’ house and a job working in construction for his brother in law.

While Walker’s life is falling apart around him life goes on at GTX until further rounds of redundancy remove Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones).

Being a bit longer in the tooth, the experience of both of these characters really is at each of the extremes of the human response. Overall, it is a sensitive, but dramatic portrayal of what happens to people when the jobs that their self worth is based on suddenly disappear.

While the movie is quite America-centric it doesn’t take much to recognize the characters and understand the pain and loss of identity that they feel.

To be sure, there are many reasons to consider not going to this movie. Ben Affleck is in it, which is never usually a good sign, and it also features Kevin Costner, who is surprisingly good considering he hasn’t made a good movie since Field of Dreams. However, I think that anyone who had a hard time in the recent recession, or knows anyone who did, will easily be able to identify with the storyline and it is definitely worth your time.

Above: Wistfully looking into the distance is never productive when you are unemployed, but sometimes it is the only thing to do.

Above: Ben Affleck’s was perfectly suited to play Bobby Walker. Young, successful, arrogant…it is almost like he wasn’t acting.

By Jeremy White 7 June 2011