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It’s 2008 and America is on the verge of economic collapse. The housing market is blowing up and the stock market has turned into a bear. The news media is devouring it like hyenas on the Serengeti Plain, but those in corporate America are oblivious to the looming crisis, even though they are often going into the red just to keep up appearances. This is the setting for the star-studded drama The Company Men.

Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is a husband and father of two who loves his BMW, playing golf, and making sales. Because he thinks he’s irreplaceable, Bobby is shocked when he loses his job after 12 years at GTX, a global transportation company. He then convinces his loyal wife not to tell anyone, especially not his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner), a hardworking carpenter who has little respect for Bobby’s line of work.

As debts come due, Bobby tries to maintain his image while looking for work, but his stubborn reluctance to change his lifestyle puts a strain on his family. Eventually, he must eat some humble pie, but he never becomes as distraught as Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), a man who started as a welder with GTX decades earlier and is now a corporate officer. In one of the film’s best scenes, Woodward tells his longtime friend and boss, Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), “My life ended and nobody noticed.”

McClary has grown weary of corporate life and a wife who spends $17,000 on coffee tables. He finds comfort in Sally (Maria Bello), his mistress and GTX’s human resources chief, yet she can’t soothe his sense of betrayal when he discovers that even he, an original employee and major stockholder, is replaceable in a dog-eat-dog world.

Unlike Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which is more of a fairy tale, The Company Men’s script strives to inject a greater amount of realism into its characters. This is especially true with Affleck’s character. Initially, he doesn’t come across as all that likable—but slowly the layers are peeled away to reveal a man who comes to regard himself as a failure. It’s some of the best acting Affleck has done, even though Bobby is similar to his characters in Changing Lanes and Boiler Room.

In many respects, the majority of characters in The Company Men are not all that sympathetic. Greed has done them in. Jones walks around constantly with a hound dog face, Cooper is never allowed to fully explore his character, and Costner seems out of place—although it is nice to know he is still in movies that are not straight-to-DVD.

The dialogue is well written, but does not have the depth or richness of Stone’s work. Furthermore, it’s pacing lacks an even ebb and flow.

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing, The Company Men receives a B-.

The Company Men is rated R and has a running time of 104 minutes.

 Now showing through February 10 @
Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf, Overland Park, KS
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com or call 913-642-4404 for more information.

Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.

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