Company Men
Posted: March 11th, 2013, 10:47 pm
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I saw this relatively new movie from 2010 about 2 months ago on one of the cable channels, but only caught half of it. Last month I watched it from beginning to end, and again this past Saturday afternoon.
The premise is; due to economics, several top level executives are laid off from a firm with apparently revised closing packages. I know most packages are quite generous and at their level, they should have been set for life, but I guess from the looks of their mansion type homes, foreign cars, and kids in college, their ways of life were going to change drastically. Only one in the four main characters obviously invested wisely and late in the movie we learn the company has been sold and he will be receiving a 7 figure check for his stocks.
Anyway starring in this is Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, and in an unusual, for him, mainly supporting role, Kevin Costner. Chris Cooper really suffers because he is the oldest and in addition to not looking too well, is told to quit smoking, and dye his hair. Tommy Lee leaves his wife and moves in with his girlfriend (Maria Bello), who happens to be the head cutter who figured out who should go. Ben ends up selling his house, his little Italian car, and spending his days at the unemployment office trying to find something but nobody is hiring. Finally, he goes to his brother in law (a construction company owner, Kevin), and asks for a job, which he gets, but is sadly lacking in manual labor talent. For Ben at least, things get better, not financially (still living with wife's parents), but gets more bonded with his teenage son, and appreciates wife more. Now, this movie has become kind of a guilty pleasure for me because I guess the audience is supposed to feel sorry for these 'poor' guys and all they've lost, but guess what ? ? ? ? ? This lady cheers every now and then throughout the movie. No, I'm not getting political, I just can't help enjoying their discomfort. They're losing their big homes, nice cars, etc. and they just don't realize the point of what's happened - - they still plan to start their own business and get back on top again. I won't give away the ending although it tries to be redeeming, but the circumstances are just a little too close to reality to take it with more than a grain of salt.
.
I saw this relatively new movie from 2010 about 2 months ago on one of the cable channels, but only caught half of it. Last month I watched it from beginning to end, and again this past Saturday afternoon.
The premise is; due to economics, several top level executives are laid off from a firm with apparently revised closing packages. I know most packages are quite generous and at their level, they should have been set for life, but I guess from the looks of their mansion type homes, foreign cars, and kids in college, their ways of life were going to change drastically. Only one in the four main characters obviously invested wisely and late in the movie we learn the company has been sold and he will be receiving a 7 figure check for his stocks.
Anyway starring in this is Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, and in an unusual, for him, mainly supporting role, Kevin Costner. Chris Cooper really suffers because he is the oldest and in addition to not looking too well, is told to quit smoking, and dye his hair. Tommy Lee leaves his wife and moves in with his girlfriend (Maria Bello), who happens to be the head cutter who figured out who should go. Ben ends up selling his house, his little Italian car, and spending his days at the unemployment office trying to find something but nobody is hiring. Finally, he goes to his brother in law (a construction company owner, Kevin), and asks for a job, which he gets, but is sadly lacking in manual labor talent. For Ben at least, things get better, not financially (still living with wife's parents), but gets more bonded with his teenage son, and appreciates wife more. Now, this movie has become kind of a guilty pleasure for me because I guess the audience is supposed to feel sorry for these 'poor' guys and all they've lost, but guess what ? ? ? ? ? This lady cheers every now and then throughout the movie. No, I'm not getting political, I just can't help enjoying their discomfort. They're losing their big homes, nice cars, etc. and they just don't realize the point of what's happened - - they still plan to start their own business and get back on top again. I won't give away the ending although it tries to be redeeming, but the circumstances are just a little too close to reality to take it with more than a grain of salt.
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