The Company Men 2010

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: It is... a little on the predictable and rote side. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Carefully structured to balance the anguish with some hope. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's not that being privileged makes them boring; being two-dimensional does. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A quintet of actors carve out a beautiful, ill-fated geometry in John Wells's layoff drama, which might play like a retort to Up in the Air if it didn't have shortcomings of its own. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: "The Company Men" takes on its big subject forthrightly, and, in an era of service industries and financial instruments, it celebrates the virtue of making useful things. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A serious, thoughtful and often devastating drama about something rarely explored in the movies: the world of work as a place where we go to find out who we are, and what happens when somebody defined by his job loses it. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The cast doesn't treat The Company Men like a slideshow. They take something overly schematic and imbue it with real anxiety, shame, and humility. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: [It's] not a pretty story, of course. But it's a compelling one and, thanks to Wells and a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, an entertaining one. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A good and decent film in a world that rather heartlessly demands more. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Wells may strain one's sympathy by giving his narrative over to wealthy, white-collar men, but he also acutely renders the shame and frustration of capable, hardworking people suddenly forced to reassess their earning potential and aspirations in life. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Wells casts a wide but synthetic net. An aura of well-intentioned generica muffles the dramatic impact of "The Company Men"... Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Are we supposed to think that only those people who "work with their hands" are safe in this economy? Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: "The Company Men" is a worthwhile outing that takes despair - but also resilience - seriously. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: This is a film without spark. The frustrations are real, but they are neither terribly entertaining nor enlightening. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A shrewd, timely, and terrifically engrossing drama of white-collar reckoning that marks the feature directorial debut of writer-producer John Wells. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: American movies rarely catch the American male so nakedly powerless and shattered. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: You are always aware of where the story is heading. Still, the film remains relatively entertaining, simply because the scenario hits so close to home, no matter where you work. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Everything is pat, from the stereotyped characters (Kevin Costner plays the noble blue-collar worker) to the obvious plot turns. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: A solid, intelligent, emotionally satisfying work of Hollywood liberalism. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: We haven't seen an end to the real-life drama after two years. Don't insult us by trying to give us one in two hours. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Yes, the film's a little didactic as it lays out the issues. But when it comes to the emotional state of those being laid off, of their families and even of those doing the laying off, it gets things right enough to make audiences squirm. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "The Company Men" recalls 1946's great post-World War II drama "The Best Years of Our Lives," and the reason isn't simply its trio of protagonists. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: 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. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The Company Men does a piercing job of making you feel the dehumanizing effects that losing a job can have on grown men, but it's more truthful and devastating than that. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Though not blessed with a cinematic eye, Wells is a gifted storyteller who gets nuanced performances from most of his actors. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "The Company Men" offers no great elation or despair. Its world is what it is. We all live in it. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This haunting movie hits you hard and right where you live. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: As ham-fisted as Wells' dialogue is through much of "The Company Men," the phenomenon he describes is real. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The venerated American export that The Company Men most recalls isn't seagoing vessels -- it's hourlong dramatic television shows. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Office Space" made most of the same points vividly long ago. "The Company Men" is a lovingly prepared dish served cold and stale. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: There's also little sense of what these characters were like before reality came crashing down on them. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Turns out three stories are two too many. The Company Men should have been downsized. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: The cast does the heavy lifting here and carries the movie over the predictable bits, exploring the rising panic of families who face the devastation of job loss with disturbing realism. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: In its solid construction and resistance to the winds of fashion, The Company Men is one edifice that could outlast many an action blockbuster or standard inspirational drama, and maybe the Great Recession itself. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: It turns out that middle-ranking executives and even some corporate board members have feelings. Who knew? Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: It's simple stuff, but the movie's heart is in the right place. Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: Consistently silly, occasionally funny but mostly forced. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: Before its too-easy conclusion, the movie offers a multifaceted glimpse at what can happen when the connective tissue between a man and his source of income is cut, and rarely suggests that it could be anything less than excruciating to stop the bleeding. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: This tale smacks viewers with a reality that's hard to imagine paying money to see in a theater. And yet, here we are. Read more