Three years or so into the worldwide economic melt down, “The Company Men” deploys a Murderers’ Row of Oscar-winning ac tors in the latest of what is still less than a handful of movies examining the psychological and other costs of downsizing during the Great Recession.
No, we’re not talking about blue-collar workers yet.
This acutely observed debut from TV producer John Wells (“ER”) examines an even more rarefied stratum than that of the white-collar workers in last year’s “Up in the Air” — members of the managerial class forced to part with their fancy suburban homes, Porsches and country-club memberships.
At first, I found it somewhat difficult to empathize with the arrogant Bobby Walker, the newly dismissed divisional manager for a Boston-based conglomerate whose main business these days seems to be boosting its stock price by laying off thousands of people.
Well-played by Ben Affleck in the latest triumph of his post-Bennifer comeback, the stunned Bobby refuses to believe it’s anything more than a temporary setback, since he’s still a young hotshot. His wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) knows better, and wants to put their house on the market stat.
As the months roll by, the unmistakable message is that if this can happen to a golden boy like Bobby, it can happen to anyone.
Eventually, and with extreme reluctance, Bobby accepts an offer of part-time work from his brother-in-law, a building contractor (Kevin Costner, in his best work in decades) who provides the film’s few moments of levity.
If job prospects for Bobby are few, they’re positively nonexistent for a former colleague pushing 60, poignantly played by Chris Cooper.
He spends his days in bars to spare his wife the embarrassment of having the neighbors know he’s joined the army of the unemployed.
In many ways, the heart of the story is Gene (Tommy Lee Jones), the No. 2 man at Bobby’s former employer.
Though he’s having a “Network”-style affair with the much younger human-resources officer (Maria Bello) wielding the ax, Gene is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the machinations of his boss (Craig T. Nelson), with whom he founded the company.
The extremely well-acted “The Company Men” ends on a hopeful note, but Wells examines the repercussions of a layoff-based economy with devastating precision.