In the Company of Men

Cruel and often difficult to stomach, but very sharp and darkly comic. Eckhart is fantastic as the amoral and pitiless Chad.

This film should be mandatory screening for anyone who thinks of themselves as an incel or a Men's Right Advocate. Because here you witness the downfall of a man who aligns himself with toxic masculinity by being exploited by someone who revels in dehumanization. LaBute's adaptation of his own stage play is simple, but genius--drawing obvious comparisons to Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. And like that flick, this one gets its mileage by being simultaneously evil & quotable. An overlooked classic.

WOW. I don't want to spoil this movie, but I was both surprised and impressed by the direction it took, and the way it turned out. There's a couple slow spots, and conceptually the whole thing is a bit awful, but it's also almost impossible to look away. Aaron Eckhart is fantastic here, and his character is one of the most weirdly terrible characters I've seen. The way he fools not just the characters, but the audience as well is begrudgingly impressive. Worth seeing, and hard to shake.

This is a film that relies on the character of Chad's depravity, and Eckhart absolutely delivers: Chad is the sleaziest, most vile, unpredictable, and megalomaniacal piece of shit this side of West Hollywood, and I was riveted by the constant malaise the film put forth. Though the pacing lags and the visuals are uninspired, the social fucked-up-ness and performances are winners.

Another LaBute movie with a fucked up ending. Aaron Eckhart plays one of the most brutal, cruel characters I've ever seen and completely dominates the role. I was surprised at the way it shifted at the end and feel a bit sick to my stomach at the moment.

The ending totally makes this movie.

A very well told story showing just how cruel people can be to each other.

Aaron Eckhart is just so damn talented.

Takes a close look at the casual cruelty of normal people. The final scene is memorable.

I see all love for the ending here; however, apart from the closing scene, which I thought was great, I thought the whole exchange between Howard and Chad in Chad's apartment (and its "big reveal") was totally superfluous. In general I think the film could have been cut by at least a half hour. That said, I do think the script is very good, and Eckhart is outstanding. Also while I like the film this Salon review has some decent points: http://www.salon.com/aug97/entertainment/company970801.html

Played out like a magic trick, but replacing cards and hidden rabbits with love and foolery. The characters and their motivations and their revelations are like nothing I've ever seen or heard. It's horrible, but brilliantly snide and cynical. Utterly ruthless - go at it with tough skin.

The two leads are awful people and while the woman is sympathetic, some of her actions are not beyond reproach either, though they are mitigated by our knowledge. There's certainly something interesting about the film's setup and perspective and I appreciate that, but at the same time it falls flat. The film lives in an untenable dead zone where it's too scripted to feel organic, as it seems to try to be, but not cohesive or polished enough to be effective as something else.

A movie about bad people doing bad things. A very harrowing experience. Aaron Eckhart is so damn good in this.

Aaron Eckhart goes "total cunt" and colour me convinced.

A dark, fascinating, awkward, and brutal film. Aaron Eckhart dominates it completely as the sociopathic misogynist Chad.

Solid. Good acting and writing plus an original and evil premise (a rarity) makes this one very enjoyable.

Chose the company and the boss you want to work for and think twice.

It's very interesting what you can do in a low budget, this movie manages to keep your attention and Aaron Eckhart shows what a great actor he is. But this movie felt cold, the characters didn't feel very connected and the dating scenes where very awkward, maybe that was the intention, but I didn't care for it.

Labute s best movie..this movie is cold and very cruel...but its also so true and you see it everyday in life...a good movie

Aaron Eckhart in probably the performance of his career (for better or worse). Shows you the dark side of people, and it's honestly pretty uncomfortable at a few different points. The ending still sticks with me today (and that I love it probably speaks poorly of me). The only real negative is that the movie definitely shows it's low budget and inexperience of it's rookie director at times. In all, if you're up for a harrowing movie experience, watch this.

Eckhart portrays such an asshole, you just want to punch him in the face. It's worth a watch, it's very cruel and you want to see how it unravels. Good ending

You certainly can not get much darker then this black comedy. The script is excellent and Aaron Eckhart gives an outstanding performance in the film. Matt Malloy and Stacy Edwards are also really good here.

There's an atmosphere of The Graduate in this admittedly intriguing work of misanthropy and cynicism. That said, this was an autopsy instead of a movie. It doesn't scrutinize people, but piles of organs working in their own fatalistic ways. I do appreciate its boldness, but I can't say I actually enjoyed or learned anything from it.

while Chad is truly terrible, Howard is in my opinion just as bad. the film shows how racism, misogyny and ableism all come together, even how they can be exploited for advancement in corporate culture. this is maybe my fourth time watching it and this time i think there's actually really nothing funny about this film at all.

Painful... very painful... but it certainly captured my attention.

Incredibly ballsy piece of work, sadly lacking any real cinematic heft. I mean, there's inobtrusiveness, naturalism, lack of craftmanship and then there's just not giving a fuck and this looks just a little bit too much like the latter. Which is too bad, since it could have gained minor classic status on nastiness alone if LaBute was as good a director as he was a screenwriter.

A slow, dialog centric film (even slow for a dialog driven film) but with a powerful and wrenching conclusion. Plus some really great acting!

I can't shake this film. Chad is one of the most bizarrely evil characters I have ever seen.

Mean, but well written and acted

A supremely well-executed sick joke by LaBute: more fascinating than it is anything approaching traditional “entertainment” – riffs on human nature while no one here reacts in an emotionally believable way means we’re almost in THE KING OF COMEDY tradition in deliberately depriving the audience of a punchline to release the tension. “We laugh so that we don’t cry” with the laugh withheld, making this ugly film difficult to watch, despite the superb performances from the leading trio.

A brutal way of making the point that good guys finish last.

Black comedy set in the corporate dog-eat-dog world, where you may be as likely to cringe as you are to laugh. The most interesting part of it may well be the study of Eckhart's scummy, manipulative, and entirely sociopathic character. Great writing, with a memorable and unpredictable ending that may infuriate as much as it may please. I love it, but I can understand those who may not want to indulge in the cruel antics of the two pro/antagonists.

Score based on distant memory.

That was really painful to watch. It uses our deeply ingrained misandry and misogyny to provoke the audience.

Ilikeher+makesemployeeshowhisdicklool+jealousonereveals/abuses+biggestassholedumpingLOL

One amazing line, a few good moments.

Top badass moment? That's a tough question. This is a film full of ambitious but somewhat inadequate middle managers, who wouldn't know a badass moment if they sat on the toilet for a week with one. It's a movie without a single, redeeming act of kindness or heroics in it, so for the first time in many months I have to admit defeat and accept my failure to identify one. Sorry. :-( No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

Women will fall for the charming sociopath over the pandering nice-guy schlub every time (obviously it helps that the sociopath Eckhart is the good-looking one). An unflinching look at true female nature.

This movie and Thank you for smoking get top marks

Stick to plays Labute. Funny and great but would have been a better play than movie.

wow, that was dark. Eckhart does a phenomenal job of playing a total jerk, but the slow dialogue, no-action nature of the movie was not overly entertaining to me.

Much more disturbing than anything violent. No where near as sharp, insightful, and satiating as Roger Dodger.