The Company Men (2010)
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A corporate executive faces a devastating fall from grace when his company downsizes during a recession.
The story
When the publicly held shipbuilding corporation Global Transportation Systems, or GTX, is downsized in the midst of the recession, many employees are fired, including Bobby Walker. Walker is a white-collar, corporate ladder-climbing employee with a six-figure salary, a wife, a teenage son, and a younger daughter. Walker gets outplacement services from GTX but, without success, gradually loses luxuries such as his country club membership and his Porsche. He finally resorts to selling his expensive house (with a large mortgage) and moves his family in with his parents. Ultimately, Walker is forced to take a manual labor job working for his blue-collar brother-in-law, Jack Dolan, renovating a home.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
When the publicly held shipbuilding corporation Global Transportation Systems, or GTX, is downsized in the midst of the recession, many employees are fired, including Bobby Walker. Walker is a white-collar, corporate ladder-climbing employee who gradually loses his luxuries, sells his house, and is forced to take a manual labor job with his brother-in-law. Meanwhile, Executive Vice President Gene McClary challenges CEO James Salinger on the ethics of laying off employees to build new headquarters. Salinger asserts the cuts are necessary to increase profits and stock price. Senior manager Phil Woodward, who rose from the factory floor, is also fired. When McClary demands HR manager Sally Wilcox (his mistress) rehire Woodward, she tells him he is also being fired. Woodward's life falls apart as he is deemed too old for new careers; he eventually commits suicide by carbon-monoxide poisoning in his garage. Despite his anger, McClary becomes wealthier from stock options but feels guilty. He starts a new maritime shipbuilding business and hires Walker as his first employee to help start a new business composed of many former GTX employees.
- First release year
- 2010
- Runtime (minutes)
- 114
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Wells
- Writers
- John Wells · writer; John Wells · director
- Cast and characters
- Ben Affleck · Bobby Walker; Tommy Lee Jones · Gene McClary; Chris Cooper · Phil Woodward; Kevin Costner · Jack Dolan; Rosemarie DeWitt · Maggie Walker; Maria Bello · Sally Wilcox; Craig T. Nelson · James Salinger; Eamonn Walker · Danny
- Genres
- drama
- Themes
- Economic inequality; Corporate ethics; Job loss; Middle-class struggle
- Tone and mood
- Dramatic; Somber; Realistic
- Premise and plot tags
- Business; Financial Crisis; Drama
- Reception
- The Company Men has received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its performances and its reflection of the US economic climate in the early 2000s, though some criticized the script's depth.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 6.4/10 · scale: 10 · review count: 162; Metacritic · score: 69 · scale: 100 · review count: 34
- Production trivia
- Production began in Boston, Massachusetts, in April 2009.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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