Kevin Costner and Ben Affleck in The Company Men.

The Company Men is a tepid, sloppy melodrama about the effects the recent recession has on a group of men, all of whom get laid off from cushy long held office jobs when the company they work for downsizes. It is standard movie of the week quality with a rather dull script by writer/director John Wells. This is his first feature film having made a name for himself on television with ER and The West Wing. No offense but if this movie is any indication of his talent level then perhaps he should stick to the small screen.

Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper play three men, at different stages in their lives, all of whom are laid off from high paying jobs at the GTX Corporation in Boston. Affleck is a sales executive bringing down 120 grand plus bonuses per year. Jones started the company with owner Craig T. Nelson and acts as the conscience of the company as Nelson orders thousands of jobs cut to appease share holders. Cooper is an executive somewhere between the other two men.

We see how being fired affects each of these men’s lives over the course of one year.

The story focuses mainly on Affleck’s Bobby Walker. He reacts with anger followed by denial and continues to drive his Porsche and spend his afternoons playing golf in a misguided attempt to appear successful. His wife has a better grip on the situation. She eventually persuades him to sell the car and their house and they move in with his father.  He gets a blue collar job doing carpentry work with his brother-in-law (an underused Kevin Costner representing the voice of the working class) while continuing to search for another sales position.

What’s interesting about this movie is that it focuses on the effects downsizing has on wealthy office workers and not on the thousands of laborers that were also thrown out of work. Sure what Affleck and his family go through is disruptive but I never had much sympathy for him. At no point does his lifestyle fall to the level of being actually poor.

All of these old pros handle the acting chores well with Tommy Lee Jones giving the best performance as the movie’s conscience. He represents the sympathetic rich guy to balance Nelson’s greedy corporate stereotype. The one thing the movie does well is point out the growing disparity between the classes. Even as the country struggles through a recession the wealthiest percentage of society still manages to get richer while eliminating costs at the expense of working class jobs.

The Company Men’s heart is in the right place and it features a stellar cast of actors, but its story isn’t nearly compelling enough.
 

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