‘The Company Men’ captures despondency of American workforce

Daily Emerald

January 22, 2011

In a scene from “The Company Men,” corporate employee Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) stares at an empty corridor of desks. For 30 years that job was his entire life, what defined him and his “worth” as a person. But as Woodward stares at never-ending rows of an empty, lonely office, it’s as if he realizes that his life, with or without a job, is meaningless.

So much of what has defined capitalist America was shaken up when the recession hit. People who once defined their lives by their jobs, possessions and money had to redefine themselves when they lost it all.
The new movie follows three unemployed men, played by Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Cooper, whose lives, like many Americans, were their jobs.
The movie first follows Bobby Walker (Affleck) after he is laid off suddenly at the fictional GTX, not for incompetence, but because of cutbacks (though the movie makes it pretty clear that GTX could have made cutbacks elsewhere).
Walker is angry about his situation, but that doesn’t stop him from living in his corporate dream world, with his dream house and dream mortgage. Even as his wife begs him to cut some expenses (the golf club membership, the Porsche detail), his character turns a deaf ear to her, almost childishly so.
While Walker has been laid off, two of his coworkers, Gene McClary (Jones) and Woodward, are still hanging onto their jobs at GTX.
Jones’ character stands as the voice of reason amongst the corporate sharks (who might be painted as stereotypically villainous, though maybe rightfully so). McClary tries to call their bluffs when they discuss layoffs of hundreds of employees. But GTX and its manager are only concerned with the bottom line: keeping stock price up and salaries high.
The movie plays around with this notion of the “old days” when corporations valued the loyalty and integrity of its employees, not just the bottom line, but this plot line gets filled with cliches, and the corporate characters are so unlikeable it makes one wonder if corporate leaders automatically equates to greedy, soulless automatons.
The movie would have been even more powerful as a character study of the three main characters. Walker can’t seem to let go of his old, rich lifestyle, Woodward feels completely meaningless without work and McClary is ashamed of himself and the corporate life he once led.
All of these stories could have been explored more deeply, but instead we only get somewhat of a brief, though rewarding, glance into the lives of these three men.
Yet when the movie does work, it really hits home.
Cooper’s character has to deal with the reality that at 60 and unemployed, his job prospects are slim. A career advisor crosses the dates off his resume, tells him to exclude his Vietnam military experience, and advises him to get rid of his gray, old-guy hair. Cooper portrays his character with quiet, heartbreaking anguish, that mirrors the reality of so many people in his situation today.
Overall, the movie is effective because of its timeliness. Maybe before the recession audiences would not relate to the story as well. But today, the movie serves as an accurate and often poignant portrayal of America today, and how we have come to define ourselves collectively.
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