Company Men
Written and directed by John Wells
With Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Kevin Costner, Craig T Nelson and Maggie Walker
Times are very tough for the executives in “Company Men,” an angry film about the devastating effects of corporate downsizing. This topical drama, directed and written by John Wells, probes what happens when people lose their jobs. We define ourselves through our work, so without our work, who are we?
Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is a hot shot super sales person at GTX Transportation Services. The film opens with a shot of his several-story colonial house with his Porsche in the driveway. James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson), the CEO, is downsizing GTX, cutting out the division that deals with shipbuilding. Bobby, along with hundreds of other long time employees, are let go. The mortgage on that big colonial house, Bobby’s exclusive golf membership, the Porsche and other expensive accoutrements become history.
“Company Men” focuses on Bobby, Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), who are mid- to-high-level employees at GTX. They are victims of downsizing, and they deal with their job losses in very different ways. James Salinger, the boss, cares only about shareholders and the bottom line. His long-time business partner and friend, Gene, is the moral compass of the film. A man of conscience, he is deeply troubled by loyal employees getting the hatchet job. Salinger’s cold-eyed response to Gene’s pleas to curb the downsizing is, “My job is to run a business not a charity.” Then Salinger fires Gene. Salinger takes home $22,000,000 a year. He has no worries.
The fired employees are given office space at an outplacement firm from which to perform their job searches. They place calls that are not returned. They go to interviews where they are kept waiting or are part of cattle call of dozens of applicants. Things don’t look good at all. Sixtyish Phil, when let go, is told to dye his hair and to expunge any job history prior to 1990 on his resume, because it will make him appear old—and no one hires an old person. His wife makes him leave the house every morning with his briefcase and come home after 6 p.m. to keep up appearances. He thought he was important, but learns he is a nobody without the position at GTX. His is the most poignant story in the film.
But the main focus is Bobby and how he copes. He is not even 40 years old, has an MBA, but there are qualified younger men out there who will accept less salary. In the beginning he has little humility. He refuses to give up the golf membership, the house, the Porsche. That changes after months of joblessness when he realizes he can’t afford his life. His wife, Maggie, is more clearheaded and pragmatic, ready to make financial sacrifices.
Director John Wells, who created ER for television, has created a perceptive and absorbing film. You empathize with the men, one day successful and respected, who the next day can’t get people to return their phone calls. Without their work they are “nothing,” to themselves or anybody else. “Company Men” is a film for the recession era.
Gene muses about the days when people actually built or made things for a living. People made an honest wage by actually creating or building something. Those days are long gone.
