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The limited release does not do this movie justice, and although “The Company Men” will appeal mostly to an older crowd it is still a film with an effective message. Ben Affleck stars as Bobby Walker, a middle-aged man that ends up jobless after his company down sizes. Chris Cooper plays co-worker Phil who also loses his job.

Tommy Lee Jones is Gene, a man in the same company as Bobby but is even higher up the corporate chain. Unfortunately for Gene, it is not high enough as even he is fired.

The movie centers on these three men as they all try to cope with life, their families and their friends as they search for another job.

Quickly they become less interested in searching for a job and much more interested in looking for their lost dignity. Against an emotional and stressful battle, Bobby, Phil and Gene each make personal decisions to cope with their losses.

Directed by John Wells, the movie mimics the financial woes major corporations felt in 2008 when their stocks heavily fell. Bobby’s own corporation struggles to meet stockholders’ expectations. This leads to the firing of many hard-working employees through downsizing.

What is interesting about Bobby is that he is making six figures at the opening of the story, and his family goes utterly broke after he loses his job.

The audience will get a perfect view of what a man does when he cannot get a job while still driving a Porsche: he loses faith in himself – and, of course, eventually sells the car. Bobby even ends up building houses for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner). A warning to college students: this is a movie intended for an older audience. However, for the few young viewers out there who enjoy a movie that has a great cast and great acting, minus the adventure and fight scenes, “The Company Men” is a great film.

Viewers that do not get the luxury of big paychecks will also see upper-class characters Phil and Gene portray more human feelings than most people see in rich business men. However, corrupt CEOs do a great job of ruining careers and lives throughout the story.

In terms of characterization, Bobby and his wife Maggie (Rosemarie DeWitt) have perfect chemistry together onscreen. Bobby’s belief that he “let down his family” reveals Maggie’s true love for her husband, no matter if they end up living at the house of Bobby’s parents.

This contradicts Phil’s dilemma, as his wife eventually forces him to leave the house all day in order to make neighbors think she is still married to a businessman.