When banks went bust and America collapsed, we lost our jobs and our homes. So why should we care about a bunch of greedy, Fortune 500-style guys from GTX – a Boston-based firm – that lays off the many high-rolling employees that got us into this mess in the first place? Directed by John Wells the film slowly wins us over, tapping into our empathy chip. Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is a hard-driven sales exec living the dream, has the big mansion, Patriots season tickets, and drives a Porsche. He’s also the first to go in a string of employees about to get canned. Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) is next in line. As a matter of fact maybe he should just move into a nursing home now because at sixty years old and unemployed, his life is over. Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), GTX’s No. 2 man, founded the company with the big boss (Craig T. Nelson) and he might get the boot as well. Especially since Nelson is more interested in building a super skyscraper to house his corporation rather than keep his long term employees safe. Greed is good for the big boss.
And so while one of these men sheepishly lies to his daughter “Yes, she can go on the senior trip to Italy,” and one man has to provide the corporate jet to his “I’m going to Palm Beach” wife who won’t fly commercial, each is faced with the genuine humiliation of losing their individual empires and worse than that, losing the very manhood that defines them. Of course when Affleck is confronted with losing his fancy-schmancy Porsche I can’t help thinking that’s exactly what’s wrong with America.
One of our men will end up blue collar, one will end up cheating on his wife, and one might just end up on the wrong end of a rope, as we watch their slow demise from the safety of our seats, a reflection of our own losses, until we suddenly feel united as Americans. Wells moves from mega TV veteran to filmmaking with precision impact and a great story. Afterall, we always hear about these bankers and CEOs losing their jobs but we never actually know what happens to them in the aftermath. Ben Affleck is an incredible actor, moving from this year’s The Town with a punk edge, to this gentler beaten-down man with a vulnerable side. This is the Affleck we’ve come to know and love from the days of Good Will Hunting. The best news of all in this small near perfect film, is that it’s not often you get four Oscar winners in one film. Affleck, Jones, Cooper and Costner. Four tiaras