The Company Men

The Company Men - Dir. John Wells (2010)

Hollywood loves making movies with a message and the country’s economic collapse and slow recovery has been a hot-button topic. Two of the best films on the subject have been Up in the Air and Charles Ferguson’s fascinating documentary Inside Job, The Company Men doesn’t match their quality, but it is the most star-studded affair. This is a film that fits into the category of hyperlink cinema, a term coined by Film Comment’s Alissa Quart. Hyperlink cinema refers to a movie featuring multiple protagonists and interconnected storylines. Crash, Babel, and Traffic are a few of the more notable entries in the genre. Thankfully, The Company Men isn’t as heavy handed though it does suffer from being an utterly dry drama.

The Company Men takes place during the cusp of the financial crisis and revolves around GTX, a former shipbuilding concern which eventually grew into a powerhouse conglomerate. CEO James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson) makes the decision to shut down factories and initiate massive layoffs. It’s not just the blue-collar joes who lose their jobs, but the middle management guys as well.

Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is the first to feel the mighty axe of downsizing. He refuses to give up the trappings of his affluent lifestyle, desperate to maintain a semblance of success. Bobby continues golfing at the country club and driving around in a Porsche he can no longer afford. He’s also too proud to except any position that doesn’t come with a six-figure salary attached to it. Months pass by as Bobby remains unemployed and begins questioning his own self-worth, despite the unwavering support of his loving wife, Maggie (Rosemarie DeWitt). Bobby eventually swallows his pride and takes a construction job with his brother-in-law, Jack (Kevin Costner with an iffy Boston accent).

Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) has been with GTX since the beginning, working his way up from a welder to a suit and tie position. His career was his life and he has no idea how to fill the hours of the day anymore. Phil also realizes he’s too old to go job hunting and that any lucrative openings will go to much younger candidates. With mortgage payments and a daughter (played by Steven Spielberg’s daughter, Sasha) going off to college, Phil finds his situation growing more grave.

Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) founded the company with Salinger and served as mentor and friend to Bobby and Phil. Through this latest downturn, the conscientious Gene has watched his best friend turn towards the dark side. His heart breaks as those around him concern themselves more about maximizing shareholder profits than they do about the lives that have been shattered. Thousands are unable to support their families while the company turns around and buys a swanky high-rise in downtown Chicago to be their new headquarters.

The cast also includes Maria Bello as the human resources exec in charge of the layoffs and Eamonn Walker as a sympathetic job seeker Bobby befriends.

The Company Men was written and directed by John Wells, a showrunner for acclaimed television programs such as ER, The West Wing, and Third Watch. This is Wells’ debut as a feature film director and he has a great support system with a solid cast and the amazing Roger Deakins as cinematographer. Deakins gives the film a slick look and there are several striking shots. One of them finds Phil looking forlorn amidst rows upon rows of empty cubicles. A slow realization dawns on him that he is the last employee left on his floor. As a former member of the West Wing staff, Wells throws in the requisite walking and talking tracking shot. On the whole, Wells’ direction is fairly straightforward as is his script. The Company Men deals with the economy in a blunt manner. The audience never has to guess what's on the characters' minds because they will spell it out for you.

The film also asks a lot in requesting viewers to sympathize with white-collar executives. Ben Affleck, who excels at playing a jerk, plays another jerk here. It's hard to feel bad for someone when their biggest troubles involve delinquent payments to the country club and not being able to afford his kid's X-Box. There's more empathy to be found with Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones. It's a testament to both actors who carry a potent amount of gravitas whenever they appear on screen. Jones and Cooper don't have to try hard to portray soulful and world-weary.

The rich have it bad too. At least, that's the message some may take away from The Company Men, a dull drama ripped from today's headlines. The Company Men isn't a particularly bad film. It's well-shot and technically sound. The performances by the ensemble cast are fine, but they aren't anything new. How many times have we seen Tommy Lee Jones play the sullen old timer? In the end, The Company Men offers no fresh insight into the problems plaguing this nation.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Town

The Town - Dir. Ben Affleck (2010)

”I’ll see you again, on this side or the other.”

As an actor, Ben Affleck won’t be remembered in the same breath as Clint Eastwood. However, as a director, Affleck is almost assured the same longevity. Affleck made a strong debut in his first directorial effort with the Dennis Lehane adaptation, Gone Baby Gone, a film not too different from Eastwood’s own adaptation, Mystic River.

The Town isn’t based on a novel by Lehane (it’s based on The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan), but it shares similar themes. The action shifts from Gone Baby Gone’s Dorchester to Charlestown, a section of Boston just north of the city proper and once a breeding ground for bank robbers. Affleck stars as Doug MacRay, the brains behind a quartet of stick-up artists. His right-hand man is childhood friend James “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), a hothead whose rash actions initiate the film’s central plot.

The film opens with the crew holding up a bank. When a silent alarm is tripped, Jem takes bank president Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage, making their getaway, and dropping her off soon after. Doug agrees to keep a close on her after learning Claire lives a mere four blocks away from them. There’s a quick meet cute in a Laundromat as Doug becomes a strong shoulder for the vulnerable Claire to cry on. In turn, she becomes a chance for Doug to escape his old life. She's a far cry from his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Krista (Blake Lively), a drug-addled single mother and sister to Jem. With a tanned face caked in make-up, she's like the baby version of Amy Ryan's character in Gone Baby Gone.

The Town consists of many familiar elements of the crime drama, but the film is so well-crafted that it surpasses conventions. Affleck's knowledge and love of the city comes through in every frame shot. His action sequences (which are a dash of Michael Mann, a dash of John Frankenheimer) are skillfully composed without resorting to overused techniques like the shakycam. After the opening bank job, the next set piece is an armored car heist leading into a rousing car chase through the narrow Bostonian streets. It culminates in an out of left field, but very funny, conclusion. The Town climaxes in a daring daylight robbery of Fenway Park.

Affleck and the wonderful Rebecca Hall are great in their roles, even if their relationship isn't as interesting as Doug's interactions with his cohorts, in particular Jeremy Renner's Jem. The Oscar nominated star of The Hurt Locker seems to channel the spirit of James Cagney in his portrayal of the volatile Jem. However, he's a puppy dog compared to Pete Postlethwaite who plays the role of crime boss Fergie the Florist with a menacing restraint. Chris Cooper nearly blows everybody else away in his lone scene as Doug's father who is serving a life sentence for a double murder. Jon Hamm (fulfilling the legal obligation to include a cast member of Mad Men in every movie) rounds out the cast in a rather thin role as the FBI agent on Doug's trail.

Rating: ***

Extract

Extract - Dir. Mike Judge (2009)

Writer/Director Mike Judge returns to the workplace comedy with Extract released to theaters in time for Labor Day. The creator of Beavis & Butthead had a cult hit with Office Space and Extract acts as a nice bookend. Where Office Space centered around cubicle dwellers and their soul-crushing dealings with white collar middle management, Extract is firmly planted in the blue collar world of manual labor as seen from the perspective of the boss.

Jason Bateman stars as Joel Reynold (no ‘s’), owner of Reynold’s Extract, a bottling plant that manufactures flavoring extracts. Much like Arrested Development, Bateman is once again the lone beacon of sanity immersed in a sea of stupidity, selfishness, and absurdity. Joel’s right-hand man is Brian (played to an understated tee by J.K. Simmons) can’t be bothered to learn anyone’s names and calls everyone, “Dinkus.” There’s the meathead forklift driver Rory (TJ Miller who played a similarly dim character in Cloverfield) who hands out flyers every day for his two-bit metal band. And there is a pair of hairnet wearing gossipers who blame everybody else for their own laziness. A confluence of idiocy leads to a Rube Goldberg-esque series of accidents to causes good ol’ boy Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) losing a testicle. On the verge of a lucrative buyout from General Mills, the accident is the last thing Joel wants to deal with. He’s also sexually frustrated by an apathetic wife (Kristen Wiig) whose drawstring sweatpants may as well be a chastity belt.

Along comes a beautiful, new temp, Cindy (Mila Kunis), who surprisingly takes a keen interest in learning more about flavor extracts. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Cindy is a con artist and convinces Step to sue the company so she can bilk him of the payoff. Joel’s bartender friend, Dean (a long-haired & bearded Ben Affleck) somehow convinces him to hire a gigolo to do his wife thus leaving Joel free and clear to have his own affair. The gigolo, Brad (Dustin Mulligan), is a blond and tanned surfer looking kid who might be the dumbest character in a cast full of morons.

The performances of said cast are good all around with one of the best being, Clifton Collins Jr., who is suddenly in every picture this year. He played a Romulan henchman in Star Trek, a sweet-natured one-armed store clerk in Sunshine Cleaning, and an over-the-top Latino mobster in Crank 2: High Voltage. As Step, Collins defines trailer trash with his greasy mustache, mullet, and trucker cap. I’ve always had a hard time taking Ben Affleck seriously in a dramatic role. He’s far more adept at these comedic supporting roles. Also watch out for rock star Gene Simmons as a loudmouth, ambulance chasing lawyer with a serious case of helmet hair. Meanwhile, Bateman winds up playing basically the same character as he has since his comeback. Kristen Wiig who has stolen scenes with only one or two lines (see Knocked Up or Ghost Town) isn’t quite as memorable despite her more substantial role.

Extract will inevitably be compared to Office Space and it stands in the shadow of its predecessor. Extract doesn’t offer up the same wit and insight as Office Space. While Judge has written some funny dialogue here, you won’t find any of the instantly quotable lines of Office Space. The comedy in Extract ranges from subtle to broad to pretty lowbrow, such as an extended scene where Bateman tries to smoke out of an extra-large bong.

Rating: ** ½

State of Play

State of Play - Dir. Kevin Macdonald (2009)

Just like Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, State of Play was based on a BBC mini-series. Having not seen the origin British production, I can’t speculate as to how the American remake matches up to it. I will say that State of Play is a perfectly acceptable thriller that tries to evoke the themes of 70’s classics such as All the President’s Men with a hint of The Parallax View.

State of Play begins with a young African-American male with a history of drug problems and felonies being murdered in an alley late at night. The police probably would have let this one fade away if not for a bicyclist witnessing the shooting and also being killed. Cal McCaffrey (Russell Crowe) is the veteran reporter assigned to the case by the Washington Globe and his tough-as-nails editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren). That very morning, Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), the beautiful aide to Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is killed in a supposed accident on a subway platform. Collins is a rising star in political circles as he heads an investigative committee looking into the inner workings of PointCorp, a private security firm and obvious stand-in for Blackwater. Young and handsome, he’s the type of TV-friendly politico that John F. Kennedy Jr. may have been if not for his premature death. Alas, Collins is more John Edwards than John John as it comes out he was having an affair with Baker. Robin Wright Penn plays Collins’ dutiful wife, Anne, who reluctantly chooses to stand by her man for the big press conferences.

McCaffrey was once Collins’ roommate in college and it’s hinted at that he also had an affair with Anne years ago. Lynne wants to use McCaffrey’s relationship with the tarnished congressman to assist in the story being written up by the Globe’s online blogger, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). McCaffrey and Frye begin working together in an adversarial capacity. The elder journalist feels she is a glorified gossip monger and can’t stand that she has a high-tech laptop and doesn’t seem to own a pen. Eventually she takes on a mentor role and teaches her to get out from behind a desk and use old-fashioned legwork to get the scoop.

Though the film takes a uniquely American point-of-view to the proceedings, it is the Scottish Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) who helms the picture. Macdonald is backed up by a script written up by a team of crackerjack screenwriters all of whom are well-equipped to handle these ripped-from-the-headlines, twisty turny story. Among those who contributed to the script include Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, Lions For Lambs), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Billy Ray (Breach, Shattered Glass), plus an uncredited rewrite from Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon). They manage to find some balance between the wealth of characters and subplots. There are a few bumps in the road that may take you by surprise and a few you can see coming. Perhaps, the weakest point in the film is the third act resolution which tries to fit in a few too many twists while wrapping all the dangling plotlines far too neatly.

The political scandals may make up the meat of the story, but the underlying themes of print versus online media are a far more fascinating aspect to State of Play. The clash between the old-school and the new-school. Further on point is the added effect of the economic slump to the financial viability of the newspaper. My local paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, recently laid off just under 200 workers following similar layoffs last year. Filmmakers added an extra layer of resonance as we watch the latest headlines move through the massive printing press on its way to the public. If only there were a lame-legged newsie hawking copies on the local street corner, shouting ”Extry, extry.”

During early development, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were attached to the roles of McCaffrey and Collins, respectively. We may not have gotten a Fight Club reunion, but Russell Crowe is more believable as the weary, slovenly McCaffrey than Pitt. It’s not a surprising role for Crowe following similar ones in American Gangster and Body of Lies. Affleck has the good looks for Collins, yet lacks the range of Norton to bring the character truly to life. Some of his line readings are flat. The best performances out of the A-list ensemble belong to supporting players Jason Bateman as a sleazy, drug-addled PR man and Jeff Daniels as an oily elder statesman.

State of Play isn’t the ingenious thriller the cast and crew had hoped it would be. It is, however, a popcorn film for those seeking something deeper than expensive CGI and loud explosions.

Rating: ***

Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces - Dir. Joe Carnahan (2007)


Is it possible for a movie to have a ton of stuff happening, but have nothing happen at all? Sure, that movie is called Smokin’ Aces, a tangled web of uninteresting plotlines and anarchic filmmaking. The film is like It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World filtered through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino, then filtered again through the lens of Guy Ritchie. Not surprisingly, Joe Carnahan first emerged among the pack of indie filmmakers of the post-Tarantino era. His debut film Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane followed in the footsteps of Ritchie’s action/comedy Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Carnahan gained some instant credibility with the gritty crime drama, Narc, which won over Tom Cruise as a fan. Cruise would help Narc gain a wider release and hired Carnahan to direct Mission: Impossible III. The two had creative differences and Carnahan was later replaced by J.J. Abrams. Looking at Smokin’ Aces, it’s easy to see why Ethan Hunt gave Carnahan the boot.

The focal point of the story (such as it is) is a Vegas magician named Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven). Israel’s shows garner a strong following with the local mobsters and pretty soon he’s playing cops and robbers with the big boys. Things don’t work out and Israel is arrested, but promptly skips bail to hide out in a penthouse in Lake Tahoe. Seeing him as a liability, mob boss Primo Sparazza puts a million dollar bounty on the head of Israel. Soon, contract killers and assassins come out of the woodwork to take on the job. Accepting the job are Georgia Sykes (R&B singer Alicia Keys) and her lover Sharice Watters (Taraji P. Henson), master of disguise Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan), the sadistic Pasqual Acosta (Nestor Carbonell), and the psychotic Tremor Brothers, Darwin (Chris Pine, the new Capt. Kirk), Jeeves (Kevin Durand), and Lester (Maury Sterling).

The FBI wants to get their hands on Israel, seeing him as a star witness to topple organized crime. Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) puts agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and his mentor Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) on the case. Not to be counted out are a trio of bail bondsmen Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck), Pete Deeks (Peter Berg), and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson) who also want to capture Israel. There are still a few other characters that I left out, but I can barely remember half of them. Thank goodness for my old friend Wikipedia.

The first half hour of the film is practically dedicated to exposition. We are methodically introduced to each character and whatever history they have. None of this backstory is particularly interesting or, at least, isn’t told to us in any sort of interesting way. We’re told the Tremor Brothers are neo-Nazi rednecks, but nothing they do or say is any indication that they are neo-Nazis or rednecks. They just dress oddly and carry around big guns and chainsaws. Carnahan seems to be tossing a bunch of goofy caricatures onto the screen to cover up his lack of writing skills. There’s a wacky kid with ADD who practices martial arts and speaks in gangster slang that shows up, if for no other reason than he’s a wacky kid with ADD who practices martial arts and speaks in gangster slang. The same goes for another scene where Bateman’s character wears women’s underwear. I don’t know who he’s supposed to be or what he’s adding to the story, but he’s wearing a bra and panties, so Ha ha ha.

Muddying up the proceedings even further is a subplot involving the cold case murder of an undercover FBI agent. First, the heavy-handed resolution of this B-story can be seen coming from a mile away. Secondly, it feels like something from a different film. In all honesty, I might have enjoyed the film if Carnahan went straight for the jugular and made this an orgy of carnage, bullets, and bloodshed. I could have been happy to check my brain at the door for a battle royal between hitmen and scumbags. Instead, we get this pseudo-FBI thriller/mystery element thrown in to add even more exposition than needed.

I’m shocked that such a hackneyed script was able to acquire such an amazing cast including an unrecognizable Matthew Fox. I’m even more taken aback that Carnahan does absolutely nothing interesting with any of them. Having far too many characters leaves little room for the them to breathe and develop. Not that Carnahan is very interested in that sort of thing, prefering anarchic mayhem and bad jokes.

I’m a big fan of Piven and not just as Ari Gold. I always thought he stood out in the supporting roles he’s played in films like Grosse Pointe Blank and Old School. As Buddy Israel, Piven isn’t so much a humorous character as a man who degenerates both physically and emotionally. However, I couldn’t help but think he could have done more. Reynolds who can display a great, cheeky humor doesn’t get the chance to do any of that here. Andy Garcia is another of fantastic actor wasted in a nothing part as he just sleepwalks through his role. About the one who’s a little more interesting, as an actor and character, is the debuting Alicia Keys as hitwoman Georgia Sykes. She and Tarija Henson add a tough feminine touch to the otherwise testosterone heavy production. It’s too bad they didn’t get meatier scenes. It also doesn’t hurt that Keys looks great in fishnet stockings and thigh-high leather boots.

Smokin’ Aces is about a decade too late to join up with the other Reservoir Dogs, Lock, Stock knockoffs. The film isn’t nearly as hip and cool as it makes out to be.

Rating: * 1/2