Review: The Company Men

Review: The Company Men

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience: 59%

I was just thinking it might be appropriate for me to recuse myself from reviewing this movie. I identify so closely with many of the characters' experiences, I'm not sure I can maintain a suitable level of objectivity.

Well, here goes.

The Company Men focuses on the lives of three corporate executives who work for a Boston conglomerate originally a shipbuilding company. Ben Affleck (Bobby) is a young up-and-comer who loves the perks of his life: golfing, his Porsche, his beautiful home (undoubtedly bought with too little down and a huge mortgage). Tommy Lee Jones (Gene) is the best friend of the CEO, living the good life with plenty of stock options, antiques in his ocean-front home, a bored wife, and a lover (Maria Bello) who, as head of HR at the firm, is responsible for designing and executing massive layoffs. Chris Cooper (Phil), also near the end of his career, worked his way up the corporate ladder from riveter to head of a manufacturing operation. All three of these men are laid off; all three, who have so closely identified their worth with their jobs, take steps to cope with their new realities, some more successfully than others.

Rosemarie DeWitt as Maggie, Bobby's wife, gives a strong performance. Kevin Costner rounds out the ensemble as Bobby's level-headed blue-collar brother-in-law. All the actors deliver fine performances. Affleck is convincingly unlikable at the beginning of the film and manages to convincingly redeem himself by the end.

The portrayal of the atmosphere of outplacement firms was very accurate, although the chanting of the slogan was a bit much -- though not impossible. The "real" offices reserved for big shots reminded me of the locked gold doors at my outplacement firm -- to which only CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other acronym-burdened jobless people had keys.

Some have criticized this movie, saying that it's difficult to feel sympathy for affluent white-collar workers who suddenly realize they can't keep the Porsche or send their kids to the Ivy League. But the movie goes beyond this viewpoint in that the experience of being laid off makes most of the characters reassess their attitude toward the acquisition of expensive things and begin to value their lives, their families, and their relationships in new ways.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Blue Valentine

Review: Blue Valentine

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience: 83%

I just reviewed I Love You Phillip Morris, a movie so unlike ordinary life it strains credibility -- even when we know it's based on fact. And then I watched Blue Valentine, a movie so universal, so much like real life, it is downright painful to watch.

The story is simple. A young couple played by Ryan Gosling (Dean) and Michelle Williams (Cindy) have been married about five years. Dean works as a painter and is an alcoholic. Cindy works in a doctor's office and has long engaged in the codependent dance so characteristic of the desperate wives of alcoholics. When we first see the couple, their marriage is dissolving; Dean desperately tries to rekindle their old romance, but his alcoholism transmogrifies every well-intentioned move he makes.

In a series of flashbacks, we see the sweet story of how they met, how they fell in love, and how they shared their hopes and dreams. In those grainy memories, however, we see that the seeds of destruction were sown right from the beginning of their relationship. Like so many people, they married for the wrong reasons and didn't really understand or articulate what they needed from one another.

Blue Valentine is the story of so many marriages, especially those doomed from the start by addiction. But this isn't Days of Wine and Roses. It's more subtle than that film. What makes this movie so poignant is the love (however flawed) that Dean and Cindy have for each either. Remnants remain, even at their most debased moments. Gosling and William's performances are subtle, painful, and passionately honest. I'm glad I saw this film, but it was tough to watch.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

Audience: 56%

If the storyline of this movie were the plot of a novel, no one would publish it. It's preposterous, unbelievable, and bizarre. But it's true -- or at least most of it is true. One critic compared the film to Ed Wood, the story of another stranger-than-fiction character. I also saw similarities to Catch Me If You Can. You just can't make this stuff up.

On top of all that, you have Jim Carrey in full Cable Guy mode, playing another over-the-top character -- an energized, bubbling train wreck about to happen. I must confess, Cable Guy is one of my all-time favorite movies. No one embodies a functional, deeply neurotic individual quite like Mr. Carrey.

In this movie, the love of his life, Phillip Morris, the man for whom he'll do just about anything, is played fetchingly by Ewan McGregor. Here he reprises a character-type he just about owns -- the sweetest guy in the world. Think of Moulin Rouge!, Big Fish, Little Voice, and, well why not? Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he does it all with the most charmin' Southern accent ever.

This is definitely a film for adults. Carrey and McGregor, after all, play lovers, and there's real chemistry between them. Did I mention that the movie is also wonderfully funny? In fact, it's the best romantic comedy I've seen this year--hands down.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it