Men and women are likely (and understandably) to be disturbed by the acidly amusing and intoxicating "In the Company of Men," a new film about how pernicious and hateful men are towards women, and men. The film is a devilish surprise: a morbidly comical and terrifyingly real expose on what happens between men and women in today's society.
Newcomer Aaron Eckhart (resembling a young Harrison Ford) stars as Chad, a malignant office worker who continually shares his hateful views on other workers and women to his bumbling colleague, Howard (Matt Malloy). Chad hates everyone, hates his job and especially hates women. One night at a restaurant, Chad proposes an idea to Howard: they will find an insecure, sweet woman whom they will woo and then dump with a major thud. The idea is that they must be complicit in their wounding an innocent woman, which leaves Howard unsure whether to proceed with such a plan. Chad finds the right victim - a fragile, deaf secretary named Christine (Stacy Edwards). Chad's only objective in this game is to inflict emotional injury by only pretending to love Christine. Howard, however, really starts to develop feelings for her, and feels that this game is immoral.
There are many ways in which "In the Company of Men" makes us see how complex this triad is. Chad is eminently lethal and hateful whereas Howard is more caring and has some shred of humanity. The film doesn't make Christine a complete saint, though, considering she dates both men simultaneously until Chad tells her he really loves her. Essentially, Christine dumps Howard for Chad. Then Howard becomes envious and feels he has to do something to prevent this false union. But does Howard suddenly care because she's deaf, or because he loves her? And is Chad really doing more damage to Howard than to Christine?
"In the Company of Men" is both darkly comic and scathingly serious in its treatment of a curious subject - it is written by first-time writer-director Neil LaBute, and at times, you won't know whether to laugh or cringe. A major reason for this imbalance is the depiction of its characters who are acutely performed by all three leads: Eckhart is brilliantly effective as the insulting and obnoxious Chad; Matt Malloy makes Howard as pathetic and cumbersome as you can imagine; and Stacy Edwards is a revelation as the flattered Christine unaware of her doomed relationship with Chad; she projects sympathy and heedfulness.
"In the Company of Men" is a film you're not likely to forget and shouldn't - it is profound, shrewdly written and masterfully directed. LaBute composes this world in bland, colorless ways such as the anonymous offices; the employees dressed in white shirts; the dreary cafes, restaurants and rental cars; and roofs that seem to offer no discernible view. What will stay with you, though, is Chad's malice thereby evoking the most uncommon and complex behavioral portrait of the year.
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