Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Saga of Chad, October 8, 2000
Why is Chad so frightening? Because Society is full of Chads. Around every corner there is some version of Chad: a cruel, unscrupulous, good-looking, highly intelligent person along his lines, who will not only NOT get what's coming to him, but through guile, hypocrisy and ruthlessness rise and devour. In addition, elements of Chad exist in almost everyone, male or female, which if given a chance to operate without personal cost, will always tend to assert themselves to RULE and EXPLOIT the weak. In a Hollywood movie Chad would've ended up ruined for his evil deeds while the Hollywood Chads behind the scenes collected a fat profit laughing their heads off at the naivete of the public. In LaButte's Indie film Chad gets it all, beautiful woman, position and sadistic kicks without any personal cost whatever. "In the Company of Men" is not a 'great' film by any means, but an especially important one nevertheless. LaButte and Eckhart's fully realized `white collar' villain commemorates, for easier identification, the readily sensed but rather vague `evil techniques' of countless Chad-type predators throughout society. Future victims of Chads now possess a secret weapon; and not only that, the Chadlike elements present within every person will, for anyone who has seen this film, find it harder to assert themselves without complex and ever more evasive rationalizations.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning, June 2, 2000
In the Company of Men is a strikingly original and intelligent film. As others have commented, the set design is thin, and the cinematography stark and, at times, a little bland, but these factors only provide a less obtrusive background for the real forces present on screen - dazzling peformances and a biting, at times hilarious, and at times heartbreaking, script. Eckhart's performance is sensational. He portrays a truly evil man of a frightening variety - he is not an idealogue, nor does he even care about committing cruel acts in the presence of an audience. He inflicts cruelty for very personal satisfaction. In fact, Eckhart is so good that you begin to question the real motives behind is behavior, and this ambiguity makes his final act with his victim even more troubling. Stacy Edwards is excellent as the victim, and, unlike a reviewer below, I found her both beautiful and strong. She is treated abhorrently, and the scene where she realizes the truth is searing, but she is a surivor, and a redemptive figure. Her treatment by Eckhart is all the more foreign because she is a wonderful, attractive person whose disability, which induces the practical joke in the first place, seems irrelevant, and even a source of unique strength by the film's end. Matt Malloy does well as the dupe - a man who has a few shreds of decency left under a coat of acceptance-seeking-at-any-cost fibers. He loses something that he can never recover in exchange for a few scraps of false manhood. The torture he feels by the film's end is achingly immediate, yet it is impossible to sympathize with or even pity him. This movie makes you think, and, if you watch it with others, debate. It is multi-layered, and, although not a thriller in the traditional sense, has more than enough emotional twists. Fantastic.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not for everyone..., March 25, 2003
There's a reason that "In the Company of Men", a low budget independent film, the first from writer-director Neil Labute, won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. The reason is not that it is an enjoyable film, but rather that LaBute demonstrates what so few filmmakers are willing to achieve: that film can be art, and not everybody is supposed to understand or like what you are saying.LaBute captures the self-absorption and resulting cruelty that EVERY alpha male raised in a fraternal corporate environment ever subscribed to - all roled into the unforgettable character of Chad. Using his persuasive skills to get his boss, Howard (Matt Malloy) to go along in this exercise of cruelty, Chad plays the game to the max. Along the way the audience gets the feel for the impersonable, alien corporate environment and good old boy atmosphere so recognizable in the U.S. Chad is portrayed instinctively by young actor Aaron Eckhart, who has traveled with LaBute through this and all subsequent films, sometimes in minor character roles. Eckhart and LaBute obviously have their pacing and teamwork together - Eckhart portrays Chad effortlessly! LaBute should be congratulated for not allowing "the happy ending", instead twisting his conclusion to find yet another villainous side of Chad. The DVD is dark, with few special features, and since almost all of the film takes place indoors (an early LaBute signature), the darkness of the tale is heightened by the appearance of the film. Striking out as a writer/director with a "different voice" (ala John Sayles) LaBute made his mark with "In the Company of Men" - and it is a fascinating study for serious film watchers.
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