A Sight for Sore Eyes
Dr. Daniel's review of In the Company of Men

medical miracle

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Stacy Edwards, Matt Malloy, Michael Martin, Mark Rector, Chris Hayes, Jason Dixie, Emily Cline.

Directed by Neil LaBute. Rated R.

    Okay, here's the deal. Have any of you out there ever been witness to something that just triggered a giggle reflex, something you knew you shouldn't laugh at? An old lady slipping on the ice. A phone guy missing a rung on a ladder. A scurrying woman losing a heel off a pump. You're looking right at it, it's an unfortunate occurrence, but, something inside you just ruptures, and you start chuckling? It's the same weird fascination that has made "America's Funniest Home Videos" such a ratings bonanza. Oh, there's nothing funnier in this world than seeing a nun accidentally pop a priest in the cohuengas with her purse. And, by the way, that Bob Saget! He just completely cracks me up with his spicy narration. The rangy wit and cunning word play. The dead-on impersonations and characterizations. I mean, it's eerie how he can just become the goat eating the knit cap. Quite frankly, it's darn near supernatural. How does he transform magically into a four year-old Chinese kid farting in a kiddie pool? He's the second coming of Fred Travalina. Ooo-Hooo. Just thinking about The Bobster tickles my pancreatic realms.
    All right. Let me ask you another question. Ever been witness to something you didn't wanna see, but you absolutely could not stop watching it? Ever slow down to get a good look at a smokin' traffic accident? (And, yes, the "Funniest Home Videos" analogy still applies.)
     There's a movie out now that's one of the nastiest things I've ever seen. Not "obscene" nasty. I'm talking "hateful" nasty. Mean-spirited, misanthropic, and downright evil. The closest comparison I could give you is Dangerous Liaisons, and this thing makes that thing look like Bambi. It's bitter, it's malicious, and, yet, it won the Sundance Film Festival's Best Dramatic Film prize this year. And, it's easily one of the best movies I've seen this year. Heck, it's one of the best movies I've seen in ten years. It's In the Company of Men.
     Two men, Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) have decided to play a little game while out of town for six weeks on a business trip. They will pick a young lady. They will date her and work their way into her heart. She will fall for both of them. Then they will dump her like a hot rock. As Chad so lovingly puts it, "She'll be reaching for the sleeping pills in a week." They do this in the name of retaliation, a crusade of vengeance against all the women of the world who've dumped them in the past. And, the subject of their attention is Christine (Stacy Edwards), a vulnerable, hearing-impaired secretary that Chad remarks, "has a voice like a dolphin. It's like chatting with Flipper."
     I'm not gonna kid you, folks. This movie will leave you in search of a hot Lysol shower, to wash the nasty off you. Writer-director Neil LaBute has crafted a movie that revels in its own evil. Is the film sexist? Two words - ABSO LUTELY! But, LaBute's Chad is not as much a sexist as he is a misanthrope. He doesn't hate women. He hates everybody. He hates the world for leaving him down among it. Chad is the personification of the "me" generation. He is corporate heartlessness, building nary a fence between the professional and the personal. Chad's religion is power, and he worships daily at its altar. It doesn't matter if he's seducing Christine, or, in one of the most disturbingly fascinating scenes, manipulating a company intern into dropping trou in front of the world. This scene alone runs the gamut of offending people, throwing a bone to racial tension and sexual tension as well as the political tensions of the corporate world. But, while all this goes on, you find yourself laughing at the pure hatred of it all. It's a strange sort of a laugh, like you're a peeping tom, spying in at this whole situation and loving every minute of it. It's hard to watch, but you don't dare look away.
     This is LaBute's first film, an amazing fact in any arena. The "rookie" approach shows every now and then. The camera seems locked down while the scenes are played out before it, and it has a "low-budget" all around, but, honestly, these factors only work to pump up the realistic feel and the huge performances by Eckhart, Malloy, and Edwards. Edwards' performance is even better when you learn that she's not hearing-impaired in any way. She has mastered the speech patterns, the characteristics, the mannerisms of the deaf. Malloy plays a deceptive little wimp of a character, one of those guys you'd be nervous to share an elevator with even though you're a foot taller than he is. But, the rookie of the year here is Eckhart. He rules this world with the iron fist of cruelty, and his Chad is one hellacious Yertle the Turtle.
     In the Company of Men is a peek at the burnt toast of corporate society, and a zoom lens look at the raw, impulsive beast. It's a stark. It's brutal. It doesn't bother explaining itself, nor does it take the cop-out train to Happy-Ending Land. From a cinematic standpoint, it's downright exhilarating.
     On a more frightening note --- male or female, when you leave this movie, you'll instantly begin to think about people you know who are just like Chad and Howard, people who love to hurt others. And you'll be shocked when you remember how many times you've laughed at their stories. Food for thought?
     Hey, it's your dinner....