IN THE COMPANY OF MEN
Starring Aaron Eckhart, Stacy Edwards and Matt Malloy
Written and directed by Neil LaBute
IN THE COMPANY OF MEN made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival because, in a year plagued by BROTHERS McMULLEN-style, earnestly shallow Gen-X angst pictures, it seemed to be actually ABOUT something. It angered people, started arguments outside the theater, riled things up. It ignited a spark of excitement in what otherwise has been a disappointing year for independent film. Having endured my share of the hype, I waited calmly for MEN to reach the hinterlands wherein I reside, and then checked in to see what all the fuss was about. Does MEN live up to its press? Well, yes it does. And it may make you think twice before you consider dating anyone your office.
For the uninitiated, newcomers Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy play Chad and Howard, two corporate drones who are dispatched by their nameless company to a remote branch office for a six week assignment. Chad and Howard are archetypes, examples of which you can no doubt find in your own place of business. Chad is the blond golden boy, genetically engineered for success, the natural charmer who seems to glide effortlessly up the corporate ladder. Howard is Chad's boss, but he is weaker of will, the clumsy practitioner of office politics who has achieved his position through dogged persistence rather than raw talent. We first meet them awaiting their flight in a drab airport lounge. There Chad suggests a scheme worthy of a Shakespearean villain: he and Howard will find a vulnerable single woman at the branch office, woo her simultaneously, win her love, and then dump her. The reason? Both men have recently been dumped themselves, and Chad sees an easy route to revenge against the fairer sex. "It'll restore a little dignity to our lives," he says.
Howard, helpless against the force of Chad's will, agrees to the plan. They quickly spot their prey in the form of Christine (Stacy Edwards), a fragile deaf woman working as a temp. Chad moves in for the kill, flashing his golden boy smile, plying Christine with lunch, then flowers, then dinner. Howard follows suit, though his efforts are in contrast ham-handed and desperate. Flattered to have the attention of two eligible men, Christine dates them both. You can guess which one she falls for. Soon a tragic lovers' triangle develops: Christine loves Chad, Chad loves himself, and Howard loves Christine on the grounds that, since she's handicapped and shy, she just might be wretched and lonely enough to settle for him. Adult social interaction never really progresses beyond the level of junior high, does it?
In Chad, writer/director LaBute and actor Eckhart have created one of the most chilling monsters ever committed to film-Hannibal Lector may eat human flesh, but Chad is an eater of souls. His evil is as subtle as a viper's, and as easy as his smile. We watch in stunned disbelief as he back-stabs coworkers, humiliates his subordinates, and works his deadly venom into Christine's heart. His character would be a joke if he wasn't so chillingly real- all of us have worked with a Chad, and some of us may be him. He's the guy who takes your job and then laughs at you for your weakness. If one of his co-workers should happen to go postal and walk into the office with a bag full of handguns, he had best have his escape route clearly in mind. Politics is his game, and the modern cubicle-filled office is his playground.
MEN wears the guise of a black comedy, but it functions best as allegory. The most controversial moment in the film happens when Chad humiliates a black temp by asking him how badly he wants to succeed in the company, then forces him to prove it in a manner I won't describe. The scene is charged with racism and fraught with peril. Could it happen in the real world? Probably not. Taken as allegory, however, it is representative of the treatment of the meek by the powerful in all facets of society. Maybe it's just the English major in me, but Chad, in his motiveless cruelty towards Christine and his careful manipulation of Howard, can be seen as a symbol of unbridled capitalism, of greed without conscience. The entire film is a metaphor for social Darwinism- only the strong will survive.
The marvel of LaBute's multi-layered script is that it can disturb each member of its audience in an entirely different way. But does the film work as entertainment? Its darned funny in spots, particularly in the men's room scenes, which demonstrate the lengths to which guys will go to hold a conversation while engaged in the most basic of bodily functions. It works less well as drama, since by necessity the characters in an allegory tend to be flat ciphers. Stacy Edwards gives a measured dignity to Christine, and succeeds in making us care for her, but by the end of the film we still know nothing about her. Likewise, Chad and Howard are simply the sum of their actions. By the end of the film you'll feel as if you've met a genuine monster in Chad; perhaps we can also classify MEN as a horror film. Certainly those expecting a conventional Hollywood resolution to the story will walk away disappointed. But the picture is often mesmerizing, and the script is a work of fine craftsmanship, which makes it well worth your time. Like all good films, it offers a myriad of parallels to the outside world. While watching Chad in his moment of triumph, I couldn't help but think that Bill Gates must have felt the same sort of cold, merciless satisfaction when he finally stuck it to Steve Jobs. There may be a little bit of Chad in all of us, but some of us have taken Chad-ness to the level of art.
Grade: A
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