Company Men

David Denby of The New Yorker called this "ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST FILMS." That's a ridiculous claim. I watched this movie for one reason: the cast. Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones. The premise is simple enough: Men who had been working for GTX, a company that has its roots in ship building (like Cruise Ships and such), are fired and subsequently struggle to get their lives back together. The problem I had was that everything in this movie felt so contrived. The CEO Craig T. Nelson is busy building a bigger and better office building with all that money he saved with the firings.  Ben Affleck drives a Porsche and has an $850K house. His wife doesn't work and he has three kids. He belongs to a very expensive country club. He didn't save any money and then immediately moves in with his parents after losing his job. But, it gets worse! "The Best Salesman in Massachusetts" can't find a job he is willing to work. He gets offered a few jobs with salaries around $80K but he says he won't work for that low of a wage. However, 10 minutes later he is forced to work for his brother-in-law (Costner) who happens to hate corporations and has a construction company. But we learn to love Costner after he gives Affleck an extra $100 in his paycheck. Meanwhile, Chris Cooper offs himself because he instantly becomes a drunk after losing his job. Tommy Lee Jones gets a divorce. There's not much point to any of this and the ending is telegraphed 10 minutes into the movie. It's pretty boring. Don't bother. It's all nonsense.