The Company Men

Ben Affleck gives one of his best performances yet as Bobby Walker, a hotshot salesman who loses his job to corporate downsizing. At first, he’s cocky, thinking everybody will want his talents for their company. As time passes, there are no takers, he begins to lose his worldly possessions, and must take a job as a carpenter’s assistant working for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner). Affleck captures a lot in his work here, making Bobby a compelling representation of current, hard times. Tommy Lee Jones is also very good as a corporate executive hit by the changing times, as is Chris Cooper as a lower-level executive who finds himself out of options. If anything, the movie suffers a bit from its cop-out, shiny, optimistic ending. Many people going through Bobby Walker’s dilemma don’t get it so good in the end, and a movie that conveyed that might’ve been depressing, but it would’ve been truthful.