Review of The Company Men (2010) by Mike C — 13 Jun 2011

I'm going to throw this a perfect rating and don't really understand all the dislike for the movie. Even I, someone who may well make less than 20,000 this year, can sympathize with big money makers who give their all to a company only to be rewarded with a layoff. On top of that, there are some damn fine characters in this movie, and if you know anyone like them, you know how great it is to see a character like that put into a movie.

My no. one cause in life is labor. What could be more just than getting paid fairly for it? There is a lot of wiggle room on what is hard work and what is fair pay, but surely there is somewhere a standard better than what America has created. Like with Maxed Out, which I watched last night, there is too much to talk about, so I'll just make a list:

Stock owners vs. employees: time and time again in this movie, and in life, happiness of the stock owner takes precedence over the worker. What the hell? So a rich guy buys some stock off a company thriving on the backs of its workers. In tough times, the only way to make the stock go up is to layoff said worker. Not only does that hurt that worker, but also puts more work for the same pay on other works. Sounds fair.

One strike in the movie is very real: the inability of Affleck's character to adjust to unemployment. I read about people who will remain unemployed for months while expecting to live the same lifestyle enjoyed while employed. Furthermore, they seem unwilling to take jobs "below them." Fuck that. It is honorable to work for a living, even in a shitty job. It is not nearly as honorable to survive on handouts because you're trying to find another high-paying gig that suits your education or whatever prideful thing you are hanging onto. Naturally, he eventually makes some adjustments so this is not that big a strike. It's what more people should do.

Civility: I was happy with some incivility in the movie. We are taught to be nice and to be nice while we get fucked and fucked. The bosses are never scared while keeping the workers scared on a daily basis (pissing off a boss can result in unemployment while pissing off a worker is in the job description). It was key for the movie to maintain a level of honesty, and the few blowups did indeed feel good.

Costner's character: What a hero. I worked for a guy like this once. My roofing job is probably still my favorite job because my boss worked alongside me and paid me fairly, even giving me extra at times when I know he was not wealthy. Costner has a sharp tongue in the movie but he does the right thing, cutting himself short to keep his guys employed in slow times, giving a little extra, etc. He may even go a little too far but makes it work at least in the movie. The world would be a hell of a lot better place if more bosses adopted this view. Of course the bosses should make more money than the grunts, but how much more? In the movie, Costner reports that Affleck's CEO made 700 times the amount of the average worker in the company. Did he work 700 times harder than the guy's out there doing the grunt work? Bullshit.

Sale of stuff: For me, it was a big step when Affleck had to sell the Porsche. I will probably never own a Porsche, but I once had things going for me a bit and had my dream pickup. I thought I was doing good work but was not getting rewarded for it to the point where I had to give up the truck. It was quite depressing. You really want something and do honest and good work to get there, but the decisions of others take it away. It's material so it's easy to minimize, but that doesn't stop the hurt of giving up something you thought you worked for.

Finally, Affleck's wife. I looked and Rosemarie Dewitt has not had a lot of major roles. Get this girl some work!! Incredibly sexy in a laid back way, and her character happens to be very angelic in this movie, which makes her all the more likeable and beautiful.

In the end, maybe some cannot relate to upper-middle class workers who are laid off and have to give up lavish lifestyles. How different would the movie be if you were a low-wage worker getting fired/laid off without real cause and without benefits? Already in debt, what chance do those people have? Their sacrifice is much greater than giving up a Porsche. That's why a story like The Grapes of Wrath will live on forever. More people can relate to that. Still, it's honest enough and a big enough indictment on the American workforce to rate as a great, relevant movie.