Company Men, The (Blu-ray) (2010)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Director John Wells Alternative Version-Beginning Deleted Scenes Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	104:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	John Wells
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Ben Affleck Thomas Kee Craig Mathers Gary Galone Tommy Lee Jones Chris Cooper Suzanne Rico Adrianne Krstansky
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$39.95	Music	Aaron Zigman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Linear PCM 48/24 5.1 (4608Kb/s) English Linear PCM 48/24 2.0 (1536Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Linear PCM 48/24 2.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In his bible for budding scriptwriters, Story, Robert McKee illustrates the essential principle of risk with a simple, unfilmable plot - a millionaire struggles hard to become a billionaire. What is the risk in this situation? What is the worst thing that could happen if he fails? He goes back to being a millionaire. Why would we want to watch such a film?

     It would have been interesting to be at the pitch meeting for The Company Men when writer director John Wells outlined to his financial backers that he wanted to make a film about the effect of the Global Financial Crisis on successful, wealthy, white collar workers. Hardly a topic to engage sympathy, particularly for anyone who had a "brother laid off at the plant". Having recently viewed Inside Job and been appalled at the transparency of the corporate greed on show it takes a little adjustment time to settle into this quality drama. The risk, for McKee's purposes is the very destruction of the soul through stripping away the identity of the workers, albeit high paid ones.

     The Company Men is the first feature film directed by TV producer/director and show runner John Wells who has been involved with great television drama dating back to ER as well as The West Wing and the recent Southland. Perhaps it is this behind-the-scenes power that enabled him to gather one of the finest casts of recent memory including Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones.

     Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is just the kind of young executive we all love to hate. Living in the best suburb, driving the latest Porsche and boasting of his excellent golf handicap he is the pinnacle of suave success. That is, until he saunters into the office one morning boasting of his superb handicap only to find that the hard-nosed human resources manager at the conglomerate where he works (Maria Bello) has just made him redundant. His strong supportive wife (the always excellent Rosemarie DeWitt) massages his ego suggesting that this is a mere hiccup, he is certainly to get a job in the near future. She urges cutbacks but Bobby finds it difficult to adjust to life without his luxuries. His brother-in-law, a humble builder, (Kevin Costner) regularly takes digs at Bobby for his highflying lifestyle. When it comes to the crunch, however, he is the first one to offer Bobby a job even if it is just basic carpentry work. Bobby is the up-and-coming salesman in the ailing shipping division of the company. As the film’s only real antagonist, Craig T Nelson plays the CEO of the company, holding on to a $22 million paycheque whilst announcing massive layoffs are for the good of the stockholders. Further up the line from Bobby, Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) are spared execution on the first round of layoffs. They are not so lucky on the second round, despite the fact that they were there at the start of the company!

     All of them have to deal with the humiliation that comes with being unwanted. Bobby and Phil are sent off to outplacement centres, both confident that they will be back on a salary in a jiffy. The reality of a room full of unwanted professionals struggling to get any position is a sobering vision. Equally sobering is Phil's last day at the job where he walks out into the previously thriving work centre, where his friends and co-workers toiled for the good of the company, only to see it silent and the desks empty.Tommy Lee Jones has no financial worries however his marriage has fallen apart and he is having an affair with Maria Bello , the very woman who cut him out of the company!

     The Company Men is a well acted drama. The cast is superb and Ben Affleck puts in perhaps his best performance to date as the arrogant Bobby, forced to step down a peg or two in order to recognise the value of plain hard work. Although, as said, the director set himself a hard task when trying to engage sympathy for some of the higher ranked executives who still have homes to go back to, The Company Men is a work of surprising depth and power. It engages long after the final credits and continues to move the viewer. At heart it is not so much the tragedy of the fallen giants of industry that resonates but rather the shame and humiliation that accompanies redundancy. That is particularly so in a labour market where a captain of industry one day could be a burger flipper the next. It is not a flawless work by any means. The script was assembled from discussions the writer/director had with those going through the trials of looking for work in a depressed market and has the ring of accuracy to it. The actual plot construction is not perfect and the individual stories of these three men rarely interact with any meaning. The ending, changed to fit in with audience expectations, is out of keeping with the ideas developed in the film. Yet this is a timely piece to show us that even the wealthy can face their Waterloo.

Video

     The Company Men was shot on 35 mm film and projected at the cinema at a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. That ratio has been preserved for this Blu-ray release.

     The film was shot by masterful cinematographer Roger Deakins. Interestingly, in the commentary track that accompanies the film, the director suggests that Deakins was the major proponent of using film whereas his own experience working on TV with digital photography suggested that the Red One camera may be the preferred method of shooting. The cinematographer won out although Wells believes that it may well be his last time working with film.

     The film is masterfully composed and good-looking on the screen. It is not a high contrast work by any stretch and the colour palette is fairly bland by design, particularly in the soulless office buildings. Nevertheless the image is crisp and clear and the flesh tones are accurate.

     There are no problems with the transfer.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The Company Men carries two English soundtracks. Both are LPCM. One is a 5.1 track running at 4608 Kb/S and the other a 2.0 track running at 1536 Kb/S. Both are adequate for the film.

     The soundtrack is a little flat and I had to raise the volume on my player to give it any punch. It is a dialogue driven film and there is very little use of the sub-woofer or the surrounds for anything other than some general ambience. At higher volume the dialogue was clear and easy to understand. The fact that the film carries no subtitles may be a problem for some viewers.

     There is a moving score provided by Aaron Zigman which perfectly accompanies the action of the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are a few quality extras added into this package.

Commentary Track - Writer/Director John Wells

     The commentary track features writer director John Wells. Wells is an experienced figure in the world of television. He is a novice film director but it is clear from this matter-of-fact commentary that he knows how to put a show together. This track is full of interesting stories about the production process. One of the key issues in the making of the film was to ensure that it was relevant. This accounts for the changed beginning to the film where a series of news report reports are played under the names of the past in place of Bobby on the golf course. He also had to do some ADR work to change the dialogue just before releasing the film in order to ensure that it was relevant. Wells is an engaging speaker and this is an interesting commentary from beginning to end.

Alternate Ending (13.22)

     The alternate ending perhaps should be retitled "original ending". The director explains in the commentary track that the original ending left audiences wanting more certainty about the fate of Bobby. The effect on the finished product is to slightly unbalance the film with an ending which seems, and was, tacked on.

Deleted Scenes (7.05)

     There are a series of deleted scenes on offer. All of them could have slotted quite nicely into the finished film, bar one - a superbly acted moment in which Chris Cooper tries to convince the young manager of a pizza shop to give him a job as a delivery driver. It is powerful and poignant but it doesn't seem very realistic. The alternate beginning featuring Bobby on the golf course is also included.

Making "The Company Men" (14.21)

     This is a fairly standard Making of featurette. All the main cast and director are given a chance to talk about their characters and the significance of the film. Interspersed between these comments are various scenes from the movie. Not really much of a featurette but worth a watch it only once.

Theatrical Trailer (2.25)

     This is a good theatrical trailer. So effective is it at capturing the spirit of the film that it makes you want to watch the movie again! It has been edited for general theatrical release, no doubt, as Bobby describes Maria Bello's character as a "cowardly witch" instead of … well, you get the picture.

     This is a Region B release. However, the feature set on the Region A Blu-ray is identical.

     The Company Men is, as said above, one of those films that gathers weight after the final credits have rolled. The skill of these actors is to make us care about their predicament. If I have a problem with anything, it is perhaps the marketing of the film. The Blu-ray case carries the tagline "We give our lives to our jobs. It's time to take them back" which suggests that this is a "stick to the man" film. It is not. It is a drama about how people deal with the loss of that which gave them dignity and provided their lives meaning.

     The Blu-ray looks good although the sound is a little under-whelming. The extras are useful and interesting and well supplement the package.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall