The Company Men

While it's a decent and timely picture I find it hard to sympathize with a bunch of MBA's who were already making ridiculous amounts of money. Poor guy has to "settle" for 90k a year, times are just so hard. The worst part is that it doesn't actually address any of the problems facing the economic collapse, other than "well we can just restart everything." Great, if only it was that simple.

There's a fine line between sympathetic sentiment and mushy sentimentality and writer-director Wells' script unfortunately tips over in the latter territory a little too often, especially during the final 30 minutes. Despite a few good scenes, decent performances and a good premise, it comes of as a poor man's "Up In The Air". I'm still waiting for THE great movie about the ongoing economic crisis.

What starts out great as the company men one by one is let go by the big boss due to the financial crisis, ends with to much sentimentality about the hard working man who once created something instead of crunching numbers. Affleck is surprinsingly good and Tommy Lee still looks like he's gone through hell and come back! A film about a subject who undoubtedly has influenced so many lives needs to deal with it's characters in a more serious manner in order to be taken serious!

A decent enough drama that had the potential to be relevant. Unfortunately, it ultimately settles for preachiness and schmaltzy sentiment that doesn't ring true.

If only hollywood could go after the financial crisis with the same creative fervor that it had for making anti war films, we'd be getting somewhere. Instead we get a flaccid knockoff of Up In The Air, devoid of humor and filled with naval gazing self pity. The story can't even manage an even portrayal; the laid off are martyrs, while the rich owners are greedy bastards who would sell their own mothers. No answers, just lazy deus ex machina as new jobs magically appear.

Critics who praise this politically false economic fairytale can only be part of the system -- and part of the problem.

It's a good, clean source of fun. I don't find anything amusing about Afflec, but Tommy Lee Jones is always a bliss and I like watching different perspectives of a problem. Wall Street was fine, but this is closer to a lot of people's reality. Nice that they showed how your average Joe is a lot more considerate than the corporate people.

A worthy dramatization of the times (late 2000's), but I say, go for some well directed, very good performances...!

Wonderful, timely drama which focuses in on the lives of four particular individuals and observes their lives with a rare astute insight. Very small in scale in terms of impact, with no real bravura moments, film nevertheless impresses for its observant writing, and pitch-perfect performances by all 4 leads; Affleck and Cooper especially are both superb. If you are able to get on its wavelength, it is likely to have very deep resonances; if not, it may strike you as much ado about nothing.

I lived this from August of 2008 to June of 2009 minus the big house and Porsche.

Considering how job opportunities back then remained slim for everyone in the wake of corporate austerity, this is not the group of people whose interrelated spiralling lives I wanted to witness. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the guy and his kid losing their golf membership and xbox, respectively ? Adressing the problem rather than its consequences would've also incited more interest from my part. The actors did a fine job, TLJones' face should be featured on cigarette packages.

Adequate Ben Affleck is still better than a lot of other actors. You know it to be true.

67.50

Slightly predictable, but it is well acted (even Costner) and well cast.

Weakish and predictable script and some directing problems. Luckily the cast and Deakins do a great job.

At times a quite good depiction of the psychology of unemployment, but the upbeat Hollywood ending doesn't ring true.

Kind of generic in its direction (though Deakins is obviously an asset), and it feels sketchy character-wise towards the beginning, probably due to the over-focus on Affleck's character to the detriment of others (also all the women are basically ciphers). But I kinda got into it in the second half, where the lack of a solid plot arc turns it into a bit of a hangout movie, and with that ensemble I found its simple charms hard to resist.

Good, a great cast, splendedly acted, but a bit too optimistic, no? I mean, losing your job seems not too bad, even joyful at times. There are some problems, but we never get to see the real familydevastating things that did happen during this period.

Phil: ''The world didn't stop. The newspaper still came every morning, the automatic sprinklers went off at six. Jerry next door still washed his car every Sunday.''

A superb cast and a script that scores some rather easy points in its dissection of the disease spread from corporate greed, absurd leader salaries and bonuses, and the successful sale of the corporate version of "The American Dream" - only the way outdated Wild West US weapons laws seems more insane from the outside. *Preview*: #13#, exp-3*, story, reviews, cast!, R2.

Likeable if unspectacular drama of recession-hit suits and the ethics of business. The topical theme was easy to identify with although there was not much focus on the lower end of the economic spectrum (e.g. Costner's character). Good cast and decent acting. Jones was good, Affleck fine as a family man, I particularly like Rosemarie DeWitt's part. The characters were maybe a little too cookie-cutter with not enough originality or genuine emotion infused into the script. An inoffensive piece.

A mix of hokey Hollywood sentimentality and 'not all CEO's' capitalist apologetics. Competent but really dull.

yet to see

A little on the bland side, but it's a relevant story to today's rocky economic situation. I still can't stand Kevin Costner.

A bunch of over-privileged white guys lose their jobs... and still seem to have no understanding of just how over-privileged they are. Not exactly the stuff of tragedy.

Would've been far more effective and sobering if things like Affleck crying because he can't drive a Volvo anymore weren't in it.

Pretty good acting from the whole cast, especially Kevin Costner. Didn't care for the ending though.

So does Ben Affleck sell boats or something?

ger; [company men; the company men]; drei Männer aus dem Schiffbau verlieren ihren job, und jeder geht damit aus seine weise um - gezwungen ihr leben anzupassen.;

Tries way too hard.

Enjoyable and easy to watch recession drama. Its purpose, it seems, is to boost morale of corporate higher-ups who lost their Porches and golf club memberships. After all, working for only 80k/y ain't that bad - you've still got loving family and great friends. Who could have thought millionaires are into such sentimental fluff. Good cast raises the value of the film a lot.

Well paced, solid cast and obviously a product of its time but still enjoyable and well made. Tommy Lee Jones has the most amazing face, it looks like he has never smiled before, amazing. Kevin Costner's Boston accent is pretty bad but it is good for some laughs. The movie is unfortunately hindered by its own trailer which shows the goddamn ending so I ended up just waiting for what I knew was gonna happen to actually happen. Annoying!

"A cocooned, sub-generic drama of downsized executives which locates tragedy in the loss of suburban opulence and white-collar perks rather than self-annihilation." - Bill Weber

How is anyone supposed to sympathize with wealthy characters who lose their jobs? I'm also maxed out on Ben Affleck dramas based in Boston.

Very good.

Sure, it depicts the coldness many companies showed employees during the recent economic downturn. But other films ("Up in the Air") do the same, and do so with something new on the table, using characters with whom you can sympathize. Here we have clueless and jerky protagonists emitting horrible attempts at Texan accents. The messages I took away from this film were "Getting laid off sucks" and "living paycheck to paycheck with 0 savings is moronic." Thanks; knew that already.

If only the results weren't so respectably dull.

Pie-in-the-sky Pollyanna optimism highlighted by a horribly heavy-handed score.

This movie ends up being a sentimental drama towards the end. Its hard to relate to the characters of the movie. The movie is predictable, the script weak.

Disappointing, considering the cast.

Strong acting, deep emotions, meaningful plot. If those three things don't appeal to you, in and of themselves, you won't like this film.

This film is very poignant, striking a chord of familiarity within those struggling to make ends meet. The Company Men is mostly a film about moving on and dealing with the hand you are dealt. This is happening everywhere, and The Company Men captures one aspect of it, doing a fine job of interlacing the characters into one major story line. A must see, there is no doubt about that. Striking and relevant, there is no denying how real this film is.

Movie about the 2008 financial crash. Kinda depressing, but reasonably well done.

"The TV-bred Wells...has written and directed The Company Men without ever coloring outside the lines: it's all a bit too neat and obvious and predictable."