A film with Chris Cooper in it is usually worth watching for that reason alone. American Beauty, Adaptation, Syriana and so on down to The Bourne Identity. So put him in a film about the ravages of capitalism and globalisation and you would expect him underline the films Big Messages, even as a senior exec getting the chop at about the time most people think of retiring. Go on Chris, throw it back at the stockholders and the money men, the heartless HR bitches, have a good rant and explain to us all how it went so wrong. No can do. I'm gonna kill myself because despite having spent my life in steady and increasingly remunerative employment, I can't afford to send my kiddies to college. Where did it all go? Down his throat? Up his nose? On the horses.
But the film wasn't really about Chris. It was about Ben Affleck, an obnoxious golf'n'marketing alpha male who's also been given the push, much to his arrogant disbelief. And Ben hasn't been saving either because within a very short space of time they've had to stop payments on their kid's Xbox (who, on $160K buys an Xbox on a payment plan?) and lose the crappy Porsche Boxster (not even a 911). Within no time at all they're all back with mum and dad and Ben's had to swallow his pride and ask brother-in-law Kevin Costner, who he's previously dismissed, for a charity job in his small construction outfit.
In the meantime, Tommy Lee Jones, who may or may not have helped start the firm that's now gone tits up, has gone all dark and moody and thinking' about the good old days, even though he's got a pile of dough and is banging the good looking broad who's doing all the firing.
Two hours, or however long this is, is an ambitious time to follow the arcs of three or four largely unsympathetic characters through the turmoils of post-2008 "downsizing". For real people, this is an experience of fear, anxiety, depression, frustration and hopelessness. But this film does not take you there, apart from in the glibbest fashion. Ben's rage at his reduced status finds its apogee in throwing stones (from a distance that would seriously embarrass a Palestinian protester) at his old office building.
The only thing that rings true is Ben's uselessness as a builder. The only realistic line is delivered by the otherwise perfunctory Costner, when asked by Ben if he can bring another failed exec into the building game: "let's just hope he's faster than you are," says the man of few words.
But in the end it's all OK because Tommy buys back the old shipyard, pulls the team back together and with a jolly "What's the worse that can happen?" they chug off into the future. The film closes with some sort of ship emerging from the rusting yard, a rebirth if you will, a veritable Phoenix.
I imagine this film will leave a lot of people feeling short changed and some, positively seething with anger.
But the film wasn't really about Chris. It was about Ben Affleck, an obnoxious golf'n'marketing alpha male who's also been given the push, much to his arrogant disbelief. And Ben hasn't been saving either because within a very short space of time they've had to stop payments on their kid's Xbox (who, on $160K buys an Xbox on a payment plan?) and lose the crappy Porsche Boxster (not even a 911). Within no time at all they're all back with mum and dad and Ben's had to swallow his pride and ask brother-in-law Kevin Costner, who he's previously dismissed, for a charity job in his small construction outfit.
In the meantime, Tommy Lee Jones, who may or may not have helped start the firm that's now gone tits up, has gone all dark and moody and thinking' about the good old days, even though he's got a pile of dough and is banging the good looking broad who's doing all the firing.
Two hours, or however long this is, is an ambitious time to follow the arcs of three or four largely unsympathetic characters through the turmoils of post-2008 "downsizing". For real people, this is an experience of fear, anxiety, depression, frustration and hopelessness. But this film does not take you there, apart from in the glibbest fashion. Ben's rage at his reduced status finds its apogee in throwing stones (from a distance that would seriously embarrass a Palestinian protester) at his old office building.
The only thing that rings true is Ben's uselessness as a builder. The only realistic line is delivered by the otherwise perfunctory Costner, when asked by Ben if he can bring another failed exec into the building game: "let's just hope he's faster than you are," says the man of few words.
But in the end it's all OK because Tommy buys back the old shipyard, pulls the team back together and with a jolly "What's the worse that can happen?" they chug off into the future. The film closes with some sort of ship emerging from the rusting yard, a rebirth if you will, a veritable Phoenix.
I imagine this film will leave a lot of people feeling short changed and some, positively seething with anger.