The Company Men

Kevin Costner, as Bobby's carpenter brother-in-law, does the finest character acting of his career.

This potent, entirely honorable drama by veteran TV dramatist John Wells actually delivers the goods, pondering the pain and dislocation of the new normal.

Though not blessed with a cinematic eye, Wells is a gifted storyteller who gets nuanced performances from most of his actors.

A lot of this is compelling, after its didactic and heavily thematic fashion, but if you strip most of it away, along with Roger Deakins' handsome cinematography, you're left with the conflict between Jack and Bobby and something like "Shop Class as Soulcraft: The Movie."

As a drama about coping with hard times, The Company Men doesn't come close to being as sharp or entertaining as "Up in the Air" - which starred Wells' "ER" associate George Clooney.

A quintet of actors carve out a beautiful, ill-fated geometry in John Wells's layoff drama, which might play like a retort to "Up in the Air" if it didn't have shortcomings of its own.

There's nothing that feels like real rage, nothing that even remotely approximates the spiritual decimation of a termination.

If the plot about the volatile world of business and the complicated art of coping with unemployment has enough to be sustainable, it is because the script and cast do just enough to be as plausible as possible. And that's what it's worth.

Not nearly as entertaining as delicate its treatment of the subject is handled, "The Company Men" hits home hard at a time when many are learning to walk the waters of business again. Strong performances (Jones, Cooper, and Affleck) are discreetly selected, spanning a variety of ages, hangups and incomes---taking more and more people closer to our troubling economic times. Its somber and elegiac tone may be too real for some to experience on screen, but a streak of optimism for the future hangs in the balances, or imbalances [of big business]. Verdict: "The Company Men" is a business-oriented film that is teemingly technical with jargon, weak in pulse, and palpably true.

Amidst the global economic downturn, a few shinny boys lose their jobs and are confronted with their own egos and test their boundaries. A fine ensemble albeit none of them quite standing out, deliver a heartfelt result that seem to be quite relevant to today's realities.

Un film sur les cols blancs au chômage, ceux qui ont du fourguer la baraque, la Porsche et tutti quanti, ceux qui se sont fait "restructurer" pour pas que les actionnaires s'inquiètent, car une entreprise, c'est comme une montgolfière : pour monter, il faut lâcher du lest. Le sujet a du potentiel, les acteurs aussi mis à part Ben Affligeant que l'on verrait bien au chômage pour de vrai, juste pour nous faire plaisir. Le problème, c'est qu'on se sent plus concerné par un reportage de Bizenèsse FM que par ce (télé)film plat et insipide, résigné dont le message se borne à "c'est comme ça, c'est la vie, on n'y peut rien". Je propose de virer le réalisateur et les scénaristes pour foutage de gueule et incompétence crasse. Qu'ils aillent donc faire de la pub pour des déodorants.

Curious subject, treated too lightly to have much impact, and with a corny smile pasted on the face of the issue by the end. Formulaic plot devices manufactured to tug on heartstrings without ringing true. Affleck plays his standard everyman (a hapless slave to his ego) who can't schedule a job interview.