Review of The Company Men (2010) by Alexander Z — 09 Nov 2011

It's hard to care about rich douchebags. Look at Occupy Wall Street. Somehow this film almost succeeds in garnering the audience's sympathy. Affleck plays a self-centered sales exec with no forethought, forced to beg to the blue collar side of the workforce when he gets fired. Of course, the blue collar guys are douches too, which is a nice touch. The only truly sympathetic character is Chris Cooper, who offs himself when he can't pay for his kid's college. Not exactly a good plan there. Tommy Lee Jones plays a millionaire who cares about the workers' plights, but doesn't really do anything useful. He ends up getting fired, but is still a millionaire. But, I won't bust his balls too much. His character helped build a company from the ground up. He deserves his success.

Because the characters are developed well, I don't really mind the occasional hateful characteristics they display, unlike other films that just throw in assholes for conflict. Here, they're written that way deliberately. But, what this movie did do was remind me of just how many people don't know the value of a dollar. Ah shit. We lose our big house and the Porsche and the Xbox! Never mind that at 160K, if he had spent more economically on a smaller house and a decent sedan, he'd have way more than a three-month cushion. And people exist like that by the thousands in this country. Then you see the inner-city mother supporting four children on a 25K salary and wonder what the hell is wrong with people. Tommy Lee Jones' character gives a speech towards the end about how people cannot give up the luxuries they work so hard to afford, and it's true. Once you can afford to eat out five days a week, and at expensive places, it's hard to go back. Perspective can take a backseat to indulgence. And that's why you actually sympathize with these affluent white guys. They learn that they're not immune to these problems, and actually try to cope. However, the movie wraps up with Affleck finding a new job at 80K anyway, which is far better than the majority end up with. But hey, he's grateful to have it rather than sulky, so hell, maybe he learned a lesson. But still, it's hard to agree that they had any real problems.