“I keep wanting to call this The Company Way, which then gets this song stuck in my head.
Its really tough to do a write up when you have a big kitty walking back and forth across the keyboard, rubbing herself against you. Seriously, why is Lestat only ever snuggly when its inconvenient?
Continuing the doldrums that are January, this is the only one I felt was worth going to this week. And only because its playing at the Fenway. I wouldnt have gone outta my way for it. Yes it is a timely subject, but Up In The Air got there first and did it better. However, The Company Men took a much more personal approach, it really is kinda tough to compare the two. Which is good because I usually dont like to do write ups as a comparison (in principle I dont like to, but sometimes its more practical)
I felt an unexpectedly strong connection to this film. It follows a few different characters at a big corporation going thru rounds of lay offs. You’ve got the one that’s laid off right away, one that gets hit later, one at the top who cares about the people, one at the top who doesnt. At my old company, I survived about three rounds of layoffs. Throughout the first half of the film, I felt the same weight in my chest that I’d carry around the office for days after people were axed. While there wasn’t too much focus on what was going on within the company, I did feel like they nailed that post-mortem atmosphere perfectly. You’re thankful you’re still there, but stressed because your work load has increased, and scared that you may be next.
It also hit close to home because I was job hunting not too long ago. Thankfully, I was leaving by choice so there wasn’t any financial pressure for me to find something, but that doesnt mean I was breezing through it either. My desperation was coming from the pressures within the current job, much of which was the long term results of the previously mentioned downsizing.
While they got the vibe well, I dont know how much I would have cared for the film if it weren’t for being able to relate to it. Luckily for them, the subject matter is very approachable for most of the country at the moment. The characters were decent. I did like Ben Affleck’s arc and his family, in particular his wife played by Rosemarie DeWitt. Tommy Lee Jones was incredibly sympathetic, so he gets some points as well. I coulda used a bit more of Kevin Costner. He sorta disappeared for a while.
I really dont know what all else there is to say about this one. Time to warm up a snack and move onto the next one on my top 100!
The Company Men – \m/ \m/ \m/”