In the Company of Men

The executives Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) have just been rejected by their mates. While traveling for a six weeks temporary assignment in another office, they plot an evil game to get even with women. They plan to seduce a vulnerable woman and dump her with her feelings and self-esteem completely destroyed. When they meet the deaf secretary Cristina (Stacy Edwards), they find their perfect victim. However, things get complicated when Howard falls in love for Cristina.

The first time I saw "In the Company of Men" on 08 April 2000, I was really disturbed with this movie, which has been recently elected the number 28 in the ranking of the best fifty independent movies promoted by a cinema magazine. I decided to reevaluate my first view, and I did not change my original opinion that it is a gem of cruelty. The character Chad is actually the personification of evil, not those caricatures that we usually see in other movies, but a very real one that we face in our jobs, clubs or social lives. Chad is charming, handsome and charismatic on his outside, but rotten, ambitious, cold and malevolent inside, manipulating and destroying other people for his self-satisfaction and promotion. Howard is also a very real character, that type of stupid guy with lack of personality and self-esteem that is easily used by others, becoming a loser in the end. And the poor Cristina is the innocent victim of this nasty game with her initial pure and later broken heart. The game is actually against Howard and she is the tool. The performances of Stacy Edwards, convincing that she is actually deaf, and Aaron Eckhart, with his cynical character, deserved a nomination to the Oscar. The debut of Neil LaBute could not be better. For those who liked this film, I recommend "The Shape of Things" (2003), from the same director. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Na Companhia de Homens" ("In the Company of Men")

Note: On 15 February 2015, I saw this movie again.

Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) are in a new town for 6 weeks on business. Frustrated by the women in their lives they decide to use the time to seduce an insecure woman and make her feel loved - only to destroy her before they leave. They pick Christine (Stacy Edwards), a deaf girl from their office and set the plan in motion.

This is a fascinating black comedy looking at the macho world of American businessmen - although it is a look at the shallowness and competitiveness of men generally. The plot may sound simple but it is very powerful and insightful - although the men are exaggerated versions of reality in order to make clear points. The film doesn't totally satisfy but it is a great character piece.

Almost to a man the leads are all excellent, Eckhart is almost pure evil as the man who we all recognise or know, while Malloy is great as the man who wants to be in the game but is getting to the point where he longs for simpler values. Edwards is beautiful as the vulnerable Christine who gradually opens up with confidence as she is made to feel more and more special.

Labate's direction is spot on for this - most of the action is dialogue based and the sets are made like theatre sets. As such the direction is quite static but the camera is often set in very interesting shots. Labate's writing is the real strength with the whole dialogue strong, perhaps exaggerated and yet totally believable.

A wonderfully harsh drama that will make you aware that will carry you along effortlessly.

"In The Company Of Men" is a simple story that is told in a simple way. A lot of shots are still frames that last for about 10 minutes, which centers the dialog and gives the movie a realistic feeling. And as scary as it may seem, "In The Company Of Men" is very realistic.

There are people like Chad and Howard out there. Even though few are really quite as devilish as Chad is, many who have a certain amount of power and income behave that way. That's why this movie isn't easy to watch.

Aaron Eckhart, Stacy Edwards and Matt Malloy do a great job. The direction is appropriate in its simplicity and the topic is an important one. Whoever has worked for a company like the one in the movie one time, will recognize the precipices of the human mind. Everybody should see this and learn.

I have to give this movie a lot of credit. The director accomplished what I think he set out to accomplish, or at least he did with me. I felt as though I had been exposed to one of the darkest corners of the human psyche, and I didn't like what I saw there. The movie was very unsettling, and I was grateful that we had rented another to watch after it that night, one to take my mind off of this one. There are plenty of very disturbing movies out there with unhappy endings that I can watch over and over again, like "Seven," for example, but I hope I never see this one again. At least I can partly identify with John Doe's outrage at the moral decay of the society around him (although his reaction was less than admirable), but Chad... he simply delights in the misery of others. He's an SS guard in a concentration camp using children for target practice. No reason for it. It's just fun for him. What's disturbing about the movie is that it reminds me that there really are people like him walking around out there, maybe even in my own company, one of my own co-workers or my own friends. I didn't like watching the movie, but I think the director got just the reaction out of me that he wanted, so I gave it 7/10.

When I rented this film I had heard a lot of good things about it. I also heard that it was a comedy. It was in the comedy section. It was promoted as a comedy. IT WAS NOT A COMEDY! This is a very serious film that is sometimes very difficult to watch. Moreover, the ending is very depressing. Eckhart plays the biggest jerk in the history of film. A good movie that you will probably not enjoy watching.