Review of The Company Men (2010) by Jeff N — 08 Jan 2012

The Company Men represents, but nearly insults, the white collar Americans caught up in the recent economy. While it accurately shows the reality of people who over-extend themselves and have been quickly impacted negatively by layoffs and a down economy, it doesn't spend any time on pointing out the blame on the individual level, instead choosing to blame the business completely.

Not to say the companies aren't very much to blame for how this economy was handled, being deep in corporate America in similar positions as those represented in the movie, I was not touched the way the movie clearly tried to touch the hearts of its viewers.

It's hard to feel sympathy for someone making $120-160K a year who suddenly gets laid off, but then cannot handle that downturn more than 3 months. Even though, in life, I am strongly critical of the stock market-based importance of growth and efficiency as to the life and health of a company, since the ability to handle downturns in demand and proof of diversity and breadth, I believe, are more important, I was turned off by how the film spent too much time implying that it was ok to develop these lives, but provide no security to live through down times.

No, the companies succumbing to stock market and shareholder demands and repeatedly putting band aids on on problems that were keeping the stock price down were the REAL problems. Yes, it does a good job showing how the characters suffer through their loss, and that realism was very well portrayed, but the intent of the filmmakers was to make you feel sorry for those who put themselves (and their families) in an unprotected state, but vilified the big bad businesses, even though their decisions for dealing with such economic times were equally as bad.

As good as the cast is, I feel "Hollywooded" when I see movies like The Company Men. This movie was someone's agenda, and that never sits right with me.