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Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), left, and Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) contemplate their futures after being laid off. |
I came out of John Wells’ drama “The Company Men” not particularly bowled over by its conventional, made-for-TV visuals and its finger-pointing at how selfish and greedy America’s top CEOs can be.
But “The Company Men” did impress me with its optimistic view of the world, and belief in the American worker’s ability not only to survive calamity, but to adapt and rebound for new sets of challenges in the market.
More than that, “The Company Men” tells a cautionary tale of people placing importance on all the wrong things in life, mainly, things. Stuff like possessions, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, houses, cars, club memberships, exotic vacations and expensive lunches.
It quietly illustrates — through the experiences of three corporate men fired from their lucrative jobs — the virtues of community, sacrifice and compassion.
So, I decided that in “The Company Men,” Wells has actually created an engaging Sunday morning sermon with moving pictures and an even more moving story.
Later, I found out that the producer/writer of “The West Wing,” “Shameless” and “E.R.” grew up the son of an Episcopal minister, and that cemented my assessment of his movie.
“The Company Men” takes us through the financial fire and economic brimstone of 2008 through the lives of three corporate employees of an international manufacturing conglomerate, GTX. (Read more…)