The Company Men Review

The Company Men is a movie starring Ben Affleck as a successful employee of a shipping company who all of a sudden gets laid off during the difficult economic times of a recession. Unemployment being the theme of the movie, I could easily relate to the movie given the the economic struggles in America today. Affleck's character immediately has a hard time, understandably dealing with the transaction from wealthy business man to unemployed father of two. He's used to living a certain lifestyle, not having to look twice at the bills and purchases he makes on a regular basis.

That quickly changes once the checks stop pouring in. Playing golf at the Country Club, riding around in a brand new Porsche and other meaningless expenses had to be taken into a account now that employment is seemingly out of reach.

After initially dealing with that fact that you are unemployed the real hard part if the job search. The film focuses on that instantly with that being one of the main points of the movie. It's takes Affleck's character awhile to deal with the changes in his life and to realize that certain sacrifices need to start being made so that his family, wife included are taken care of. Losing his job, that secure feeling of comfort slowly fades away and he begins to see the world as if it's slowly coming to a stop but his life is the only one that's decelerating.

As the bills begin to pile up, Affleck's character ultimately reaches the point where a job, any job will do and reluctantly settles into a life as a carpenter. The movie shows different aspects of unemployment from people who work on the ground floor to CEO's all losing there jobs. They each deal with the pending difficulty in their own way with job searching being their new profession of choice. The Company Men stays true to the economic challenges of today and gives a real insight into what many Americans are going through right now. Included are solid performance from Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner and Mario Bello so with a believable story and on-point acting, this movie is worth watching. For Maria Bello's "performance" alone.

4 out of 5 stars