Premise: Two men make a pact to start dating the same woman, get her to fall for them, then dump her at the same time because…I don’t know – men’s rights?
Holy shit. For years I’ve heard about this movie as part of the legend of Aaron Eckhart. I was first introduced to Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking: the dark comedy that relies on his ability to say the worst things and remain likable. I then saw him move to roles like Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight that painted him as the ultimate golden boy turned corrupt. But, any time I’ve heard a podcast or reviewer talk about Eckhart, it always comes back to that time he played a monster in In the Company of Men.
Having finally seen In the Company of Men, I get it. I get how this performance could color one’s opinion of Eckhart forever. My stance on Eckhart since seeing Thank You For Smoking has been some version of “thank god he’s on our side”. He’s so charming in that film that he makes what should be a villain into someone you can’t help but root for. Like, you want all the bad things possible to happen to the people around him but for him to somehow come out unscathed. In the Company of Men is the opposite. Eckhart is pure evil but at a whim, he can trick you into liking him. I went into this knowing he is an irredeemable character and I still got caught a couple times thinking he’d made a turn. It’s a masterful performance. I don’t know how else to put it. And I don’t know how many actors could actually pull it off. Sometimes I wonder why Eckhart’s career has been so humdrum overall. He had the mid-00s run and he’s never stopped working, but it feels like he’s often playing below his talent level. I’m starting to wonder if that’s a somewhat conscious choice. He knows he has this ability to play awful people and charm you into liking them if he wants too, but maybe that takes a lot out of him. I mean, after doing In the Company of Men, I’d certainly want to spend the rest of my career in RomComs and action movies, proving I’m actually a nice guy and a hero. Is Eckhart’s career like finding out you are a really great hitman but not wanting the emotional torment of killing people?
Is it fair to question if this movie is actually a black comedy? There’s not much that’s actually funny about this movie. I didn’t find myself laughing and saying “I shouldn’t be laughing about that”. I think sometimes a black comedy gets labelled that way simply because calling it a drama would be too bleak. It’s kind of like how satire is often labelled as comedy even though that isn’t always right. In the Company of Men is a dark movie that happens in well-lit rooms. It’s a satire of men who feel wronged by life despite the fact that they are winning at life. The only thing funny about it is describing the intent of the movie. I’ll laugh about the movie in hindsight, because the men in the film are so pathetic. But, watching the movie, there’s nothing to laugh at.
This feels like a movie that I’ll only need to see once. I appreciate what it’s doing. I technically liked the movie. I just have no desire to be around people who are that shitty without any kind of comic release. Then again, Aaron Eckhart is so good in it.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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