In the Company of Men (1997)

“I get so used to saying what people want to hear I forget sometimes they might just want the truth.” You’ve seen these losers over and over again if you’ve ever worked for a mindless corporation. In this dark comedy directed by Neil LaBute, two assholes, “Chad” (Aaron Eckhart) and “Howard” (Matt Malloy)—I’d guess you’d refer to them as “junior executives”—plot to find a vulnerable woman, wine and dine her, and then dump her as revenge for all the women who have ever shit on them in the past. During a six-week business trip, these misogynists target a deaf typist named “Christine” (Stacy Edwards) but things don’t work out quite as they intended. The cast is solid all around. However, the best thing about this movie is the insight it gives into the total banality of corporate culture: waiting in line at the copy machine, cracking jokes about “bitches” in the men’s room (“Never trust anything that can bleed for a week and not die”), browbeating an intern (believe it or not, in this case making him drop his drawers to show that he has the “balls” to work for the company). In the end, Howard’s desperate plea to be noticed falls upon deaf ears (no pun intended!). The tagline read, “Are all men bastards … or just misunderstood?” Useless Trivia: LaBute’s feature film debut earned him an Independent Spirit Award for “Best First Screenplay.”

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