The Company Men

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

The Company Men is a film that captures the zeitgeist of our time. There is no Hollywood sugarcoating or glamorization here. Instead, we are privy to the abject failure of the American economy circa 2008, and all of its dreadful impact on the lives of career people and their families. Lost in the shuffle of the cable news cycle, and the broadcasts of radio talking heads, is the story of the everyday professional losing their job, their way of life, and their spirit. With Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, and Tommy Lee Jones in front of the camera, economic ruin and reconstruction are showcased in all of their brilliance. The Company Men is not in and of itself, a picture about recovery, it is a story about Americans and how they manage their greatest failures, even when they are the ones that have been let down.

     Bobby Walker (Affleck) is a highly-paid sales executive for GTX, a global technologies and shipbuilding corporation. Bobby is married with two children. He leases a Porsche, owns/mortgages an $850,000 house in the suburbs, and he spends money capriciously. This is all about to change. In order to maintain its stock price of over $90 a share, owner and C.E.O. James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson) has decided to excise several divisions of GTX. One of the first arms to be severed is Bobby’s shipbuilding/ship sales division. He is given 12 weeks severance pay and several months of “relocation services”. Many of his colleagues have had their employment terminated as well. The only juggernaut preventing further layoffs and hardship is one of GTX’s founding members, who is also a member of the Board of Directors, Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones). Gene is affable and loyal as a bloodhound. Unfortunately, despite his protests to the board and his best friend James, GTX has decided to continue laying people off. Removing the unprofitable sectors will strengthen and consolidate the company. The larger picture is for the stockholders to make out like bandits, while the workers will be forced to seek new employ. Such is the way of the cutthroat corporate world. However, in this instance there are extenuating circumstances.

     In the economic climate of 2008-2011, jobs are scarce, wages have been slashed, and thousands of companies have gone or are going bankrupt. This leaves Bobby and millions of others between a rock and a hard place. His wife Maggie (Rosemarie DeWitt) is not interesting in divorcing her struggling husband. She is intent on returning to work to provide additional income during their hard times. Maggie is rather stolid emotionally, but she accepts and pushes for selling their home (with a balloon mortgage nonetheless!) and her husband’s overpriced car. When times are tough and the future looks bleak, it is important to have a partner willing to stand by you, rather than a scoundrel more interested in seeking their fortunes elsewhere.

     Being out of work is humbling for Bobby. At first he encourages his kids to keep his job status a secret. His son wonders what will become of the family, and even sells his X-Box 360 to help make ends meet. Despite his cockiness, Bobby is unable to find work for a long time. When an opportunity comes by like an angel falling from the sky, it vanishes just as quickly. Jobs are promised to him that fall through. At first he is unwilling to accept a major pay reduction. After witnessing his lovely wife working to support their family, Bobby realizes he must contribute somehow. Putting aside his pride and stubbornness, he accepts an offer from his brother in law Jack (Kevin Costner) to work as a carpenter. Despite at first rebuffing the offer on account of their mutual animosity, Bobby has no choice but to accept.

     Falling from a salary of 160K a year plus commissions to working as a day laborer for a fraction of his previous salary is indeed a bitter pill to swallow. Even more so for Jack because Bobby is a “shitty carpenter.” This is one of the morals of this particular story. Family can help one another through their darkest days. It is important to lend a helping hand and to reciprocate whenever possible. One of the consequences of prolonged unemployment has also been a boon. More men are spending time with their families than they had ever before.

     The two wildcards are Gene McClary and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper). Gene strives to protect his friend Phil but eventually they both receive the axe. Gene may have been fired from the company he helped build, but his stock options can keep him solvent indefinitely. Phil, however, is nearly broke and cannot afford his mortgage or his daughter’s tuition. He cannot find a job at age sixty and for all intents and purposes, his skills do not lend themselves to starting over in today’s competitive and technologically driven work landscape. After turning to alcohol and despair, Phil succumbs to the pressure and commits suicide. This is tragic, but not uncommon. Suicide rates have increased on account of depression and despair. College is no longer a ticket to a job, and even graduate school provides no guarantees. Jobs that educated people want simply do not exist in the same quantity as they once did. This is no longer the land of good and plenty. Unable to feed one’s family, and disgraced from being fired and bankrupted, suicide may seem like the only option for many of the unemployed.

     Gene has been exiled from the profession he loves, the job he has always known, and his best friend has chosen a 600 million dollar bonus over retaining thousands of employees. James’ concern is keeping GTX viable while Gene’s primary modus Vivendi is to save as many jobs as possible. In between he finds time for a tawdry affair with fellow board member Sally Wilcox (Maria Bello). Eventually, enriched by the sale and surge of his GTX stock, Gene decides to take action. Slowly but surely, some of those impacted by GTX’s job slashes are beginning to recover and start anew.

     Unlike Up in the Air and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Company Men is about real people, tangible people, individuals we can all relate to, losing their jobs, their pride, and in many cases their hope for a better future. I live in Florida, a state that estimates an unemployment rate of 12.6% (really closer to 18% depending on how the figures are calculated). If there are over 30 million unemployed Americans, that means 30 million jobs that existed before have either been eliminated or consolidated despite having a shortage of manpower. If I were to apply for practically any position today, I would be one of hundreds, or thousands, or even millions of applicants. When vice presidents, sales managers, and career track individuals lose their jobs, they may lose their homes to foreclosure, wind up in severe credit card debt, and families may be broken up because of the resulting stress. The Company Men is a great movie about these real issues. Jones, Affleck and Cooper are the perfect ambassadors for characterizing the plight of the unemployed.

Jonathan Jacobs

Member FFCC

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