The Company Men

Salesman Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) had a great morning on the golf course and practically whistles as he walks into a meeting in a very quiet conference room in the opening scenes of The Company Men. “Who died?” he asks his stone-faced team. Minutes later, he’s fired. Bobby is one of three men let go during a purge in this meditation on the recession. Bobby represents the young but established white-collar earner with a young family, a huge mortgage, and a leased Porsche. Meanwhile, outdated Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) gets canned too, but can’t face the new reality of a job market so changed from the one he entered 40 years ago. The same happens to Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), who started the company years ago. It’s hard to sympathize with the loss of a three-figure salary, but you’d have to be inhumane not to empathize with lives that lose their meaning. The Company Men is a wake-up call to reassess more than your résumé.