Starring Aaron Eckhart, Stacey Edwards, Matt Malloy. Written and Directed by Neil LaBute.
"Once in a lifetime comes a movie that makes you want to fall in love all over again. This is not that movie." That was the advertising comeon for the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner film War of the Roses, where a couple deeply in love begin to drift apart in their marriage, and during their divorce war literally breaks out. in the company of men ups the ante big time.
Two guys in the high pressure software business are sent out on a six-week job to set up a computer system. Howie (Malloy) is put in charge, but he is really a follower. His colleague and friend from college days, is Chad (Eckhart), a handsome, charming, smooth talking marketing guy. Both detail to one another how women have lied, used and dumped them in the past. Chad suggests that while they are on this job, they should find a women, someone shy or with a handicap who would enjoy some attention. They would both pursue her, and then dump her to break her heart, just so they can see her reaction. Howie is reluctant, but eventually goes along with the plan. On the job, they meet an attractive, shy deaf-woman Christine (Edwards) in the typing pool. First Chad pursues her, and then Howie follows up. The problem becomes that Howie begins to fall in love with Christine, while Christine falls for Chad. We are not quite sure if Chad actually has real feelings for Christine. There's also a surprise twist at the end that really shouldn't be a surprise because it fits the characters so well.
Chad is played expertly by Eckhart as a conscienceless predator filled with hate, but a totally believable, flesh and blood person. I know guys like Chad - so will you. Eckhart could easily get an Oscar nomination for this, except that many voters will hate him (and possibly the movie) and pass him by. While many will note that Chad is poster boy for a misogynist, some writers have emphasized this as a showing of the anti-feminist backlash. The truth is Chad hates everybody equally - anybody who can be a threat to him is fair game. The funniest scene in the movie involves Chad leafing through a company picture list saying "Jeez, I hate that guy. And this guy, I HATE this guy", and then when a colleague leaves, he adds "I despise that guy." And as we find out later, Chad has been undermining Howie all along, while pretending to be his buddy. The great thing about the movie is that it works on so many levels. It is an illustration of mens anger against women both in the workplace and in relationships, and it's a picture of how men talk when women aren't around. It's an expose of cutthroat infighting in an increasing hostile and competitive workplace, and a telling illustration that bold and beautiful people can get away with a lot and often do not have to answer for their actions. It's about people becoming more and more callous with one another, as society changes at at a ridiculous pace, and people are treated in more and more dehumanizing ways. And on the surface, it is a male revenge fantasy for all the perceived injustices women have foisted upon them.
While Howie is depicted as basically a decent, well meaning a guy, it is he who may be the most disturbing of the two men. He is the one who laces into Christine with raw anger and vitriol. He is angry and frustrated, not just at Christine, but at women in general. He is the nice, nerdy, sensitive guy who generally treats a woman decently. He resents that he actually loves a woman, with honourable intentions, but she falls for, and jumps into bed with, the smooth talking, ruggedly-handsome guy who he knows will hurt her. Most guys are not among the beautiful people. Most guys have at least a little of Howie in them.
Edwards is outstanding, and Oscar-worthy as the victim Christine. She speaks authentically like a deaf person and convincingly plays a shy, vulnerable young woman with little past success with men who doesn't quite know how to handle all the attention she is now getting. Her earnest concern for the two mens' feelings, especially for Howard who she must break off with, makes her a very sympathetic character. We do feel her pain as she is being hurt. We also forgive the fact that she occasionally lies to keep both men interested in her until she decides which of them she likes best.
This is not a movie that is conventionally entertaining. It is a black comedy, with plenty of satirically funny lines (even many of the female members of the audience were noticeably laughing, and even at some of Chad's most outrageous moments or most cutting remarks), but more than once, I found myself looking away from the screen, not wanting to see Chad and Howie emotionally abuse Christine. But it is illuminating. All three characters are depicted as real people, ones that you and I can recognize from our lives. If you go see it, you may want to leave friends of the opposite sex at home.
