In the Company of Men is a dark and disturbing story focusing on two corporate work colleagues who take advantage of a deaf typist while on a six week work related trip.
Chad is confident, good looking, calculated and cold. Howard is unconfident,disorganized, short and overweight but intelligent and successful at the same time. Christine, the deaf typist, is vulnerable as her disability makes her self conscious of the way she speaks. The two men, both bitter about recent break ups with their girlfriends, decide to date Christine so as to build up her confidence (which due to her self consciousness about the way she speaks is understandably fragile in social situations) and then dump her in an attempt to break her belief once again. Therefore they will be striking back against the female community which they feel has wronged them. The results are fascinating and somewhat upsetting.
As for my one line summary above.This is the moral of the story. It would seem on the surface that the conclusion is that Christine is the victim. But this is wrong. Howard is the true victim here. Chad not only gets promoted while Howard is demoted but illustrates his superiority over Howard in terms of sex appeal and in his ability to constantly gain control over situations in the work place. Chad can sit back in a boardroom and call everybody a "c**ks**ker" or "f**ker" behind their backs to everybody else's amusement and get away with it.Howard meanwhile struggles to even introduce himself to co-workers.I think it should be noted that as the relationship between the men and Christine develops, Howard begins to make mistakes and slip ups which lead to his eventual demotion. Chad though is able to maintain his cool exterior and continues to treat the relationship as a game.In the end Howard is a broken and lonely man with nothing. Chad meanwhile has become stronger and more powerful yet his attitude remains the same.
Eckhart is awesome as Chad. Anyone who knows anything of acting will tell you that such characters are a joy for an actor to play but the role is executed wonderfully. Its no surprise that it is on such a performance that Eckhart has built a pretty stellar career. There are also some shades here of his excellent recent portrayal as a tobacco industry spin doctor in the wonderful 'Thank You For Smoking' but the difference is that this one is in no way played for laughs.Matt Malloy portrays a much more difficult role very well and the portrayal of Christine is also very impressive.
The people who criticised the acting in the recommendation section must be watching the wrong movie. I found myself enjoying the performances as much as the material which was very basic and offered characters which we have seen before in other films with a 'big business' backdrop ie.-Wall street.
Overall its a somewhat bluntly executed but engrossing portrayal of relationships in the workplace and how as much as we may despair some people are just plain no good. The ending is also worthy in that it contains a twist that you really won't see coming.
You will ponder it after viewing and if you like Eckhart it is somewhat essential viewing.
Chad is confident, good looking, calculated and cold. Howard is unconfident,disorganized, short and overweight but intelligent and successful at the same time. Christine, the deaf typist, is vulnerable as her disability makes her self conscious of the way she speaks. The two men, both bitter about recent break ups with their girlfriends, decide to date Christine so as to build up her confidence (which due to her self consciousness about the way she speaks is understandably fragile in social situations) and then dump her in an attempt to break her belief once again. Therefore they will be striking back against the female community which they feel has wronged them. The results are fascinating and somewhat upsetting.
As for my one line summary above.This is the moral of the story. It would seem on the surface that the conclusion is that Christine is the victim. But this is wrong. Howard is the true victim here. Chad not only gets promoted while Howard is demoted but illustrates his superiority over Howard in terms of sex appeal and in his ability to constantly gain control over situations in the work place. Chad can sit back in a boardroom and call everybody a "c**ks**ker" or "f**ker" behind their backs to everybody else's amusement and get away with it.Howard meanwhile struggles to even introduce himself to co-workers.I think it should be noted that as the relationship between the men and Christine develops, Howard begins to make mistakes and slip ups which lead to his eventual demotion. Chad though is able to maintain his cool exterior and continues to treat the relationship as a game.In the end Howard is a broken and lonely man with nothing. Chad meanwhile has become stronger and more powerful yet his attitude remains the same.
Eckhart is awesome as Chad. Anyone who knows anything of acting will tell you that such characters are a joy for an actor to play but the role is executed wonderfully. Its no surprise that it is on such a performance that Eckhart has built a pretty stellar career. There are also some shades here of his excellent recent portrayal as a tobacco industry spin doctor in the wonderful 'Thank You For Smoking' but the difference is that this one is in no way played for laughs.Matt Malloy portrays a much more difficult role very well and the portrayal of Christine is also very impressive.
The people who criticised the acting in the recommendation section must be watching the wrong movie. I found myself enjoying the performances as much as the material which was very basic and offered characters which we have seen before in other films with a 'big business' backdrop ie.-Wall street.
Overall its a somewhat bluntly executed but engrossing portrayal of relationships in the workplace and how as much as we may despair some people are just plain no good. The ending is also worthy in that it contains a twist that you really won't see coming.
You will ponder it after viewing and if you like Eckhart it is somewhat essential viewing.