You probably missed The Company Men when it hit theaters in late 2010 – it’s okay most of us did too – but it’s certainly worth catching up on now that it’s on DVD. Sure it’s not as excellent or as exciting as Black Swan or True Grit or some of the other fantastic films that came out around the same time but it’s a solid film about an issue that may hit a little closer to home than most people are comfortable with.
It almost feels like a companion piece for the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job. Starring Ben Affleck The Company Men is the heartbreaking tale of what happened to the folks who were riding the gravy train when the financial downturn took hold of the United States. You’re already excited aren’t you?
Affleck plays Bobby Walker a high-paid executive at a company going through some serious downsizing. He and many of his coworkers (Tommy Lee Jones Chris Cooper) are let go and struggle with their new positions in life. The story itself isn’t revolutionary or all that riveting; it’s something we’ve seen time and time again in real life and on the big screen.
The real reason to sit down for the almost two hours it takes to watch this film is for the individual performances. It’s chocked full of good actors like Cooper and Jones Maria Bello and Craig T. Nelson. Rosemarie DeWitt delivers a great performance as Walker’s wife who struggles to support her depressed slowly crumbling husband. Kevin Costner also fills a supporting role as the owner of a construction business where Walker eventually turns when he reaches his more desperate point and while he’s usually flat in almost everything he does Costner turns in one of the most rewarding and surprising roles in the film.
The 1080p high-definition doesn’t go too far for this film which includes a few sweeping shots and even more carefully-crafted scenes but it helps. As for features on the Blu-ray there aren’t many. We find the usual commentary making-of and deleted scenes. The real treat is an alternate ending which I won’t spoil for you.
It’s not much but the film doesn’t really need it. There’s only so much of this sort of material you can take and The Company Men does a nice job of fleshing out the topic and tying it up with a nice bow that a slew of special features would actually be too over-the-top.
The Company Men is on Blu-ray and DVD June 7.
