Syl Academy Award winners, Chris Cooper, Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones played men of a big conglomerate company known as GTX. Chris Cooper played Phil Woodward, the longtime company employee who rose from the bottom to the top. Ben Affleck played Bob Walker, a family man with two young children, a wife and house in the suburbs. When he is let go, he has only three months to get another job. Tommy Lee Jones played Gene McClatchy. As we watch the film unfolds, the men are slowly cut from the same company. Somebody doesn't handle it well. Chris Cooper played the role of Phil best of all. He is desperate to work again but at 60 years old, who will hire him. Tommy Lee Jones watches as thousands are let go. Ben Affleck deserved praise for his performance as Bob. There are other great performances like Rosemarie DeWitt's Maggie, Kevin Costner's Jack, Craig T. Nelson's character and Maria Bello's Sally Wilcox. In this day and age, the characters are familiar and also sympathetic to today's world.

Tim Little Is this really the nearest Hollywood comes to understanding the real world - and the economic 'downturn' ?A bunch of more corporate, unsympathetic characters you could not hope to imagine but they are all forced to embark on a voyage of discovery by heartless, cost-cutting conglomerates who have the audacity to fire executives further up the chain. Chris Cooper (normally brilliant) discovers that more elderly people may struggle to find employment in the workplace whilst Ben Affleck (not normally brilliant) is made to realise that people wear gloves at work, have to carry heavy things and don't even go out to lunch on their breaks. Tommy Lee Jones just looks surly and grouches a lot... though his millions of dollars of shares increase in value, thank goodness.The huge house and top-of-the-range German cars are on the line though as times get truly 'slightly uncomfortable' but thankfully it's Afflecks' sons' X-Box that goes first and the awful step down to manual labour doesn't seem so bad when you can master the wielding of a nail-gun in five minutes flat.Corporate America is often an ugly thing, and this trite, patronising offering is no exception. It is almost nauseating in its' attempt to extract some sort of audience feeling for these greedy, grasping corporate 'executives'.Who cares ?

dansview What a crock! The Tommy Lee Jones character is super wealthy and the Chris Cooper character should have loads of money saved up. Even the Affleck guy being a sensible MBA would have put away loads in 14 years.Most of the movie is only within 4-6 months of them losing their jobs. The Cooper character can't pay his daughter's tuition after working for 35 years and being at a high level? It's so bad that he has no hope? I can see where the Affleck guy would have to cut back on expenses, because a lot of guys in his salary/benefits range overextend themselves, but it wouldn't be drastic right away.Also,the economy was the bad guy, not the company itself. Or is this all about one CEO making a bundle? The people were given generous severance packages and career counseling services.I don't even get the movie. I suppose the message is that big corporations are good when you work for them and make a bunch of money, but they are evil when they lay you off. Dry Wall guys who work with their hands and drink beers after work are spiritually holier than business executives? There was no character development of the CEO and very little of the other folks. Jones was an adulterer and kind of aggressive and rude. But suddenly he's an idealist? Affleck's guy seemed pretty shallow throughout, although he redeemed himself by helping a black guy find work.I know that this was supposed to be some kind of profound statement about wealth inequality or the value of hands-on labor or the working class. But it didn't make the case very well. I was left wondering what the hell the point was. They had good jobs, the economy went south, and they lost the good jobs. They weren't protesting anything before they were let go.I did enjoy the general scenery, and Affleck does have an appealing way about him on screen. Jones is the same guy in every movie.If you watch it, keep your guard up and try to figure out what the heck the writer is trying to say, other than the basic "Occupy" manifesto.

p-stepien In the midst of economic turmoil the GTX corporation is downsized, not so much because of dire need, but due to shareholder pressure and necessity to project success via any means possible. All in order to keep the stock prices at a high. The story follows three victims of the corporate brutality: the middle aged sales exec Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) and further down the line his superiors senior manager Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and the first company employee, CSO Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones). Bobby Walker gets hit with the reality slowly but surely, not ready to let go of his extravagant lifestyle with a spacious suburban house, regular golf outings and eating out almost everyday. However when mortgage payment start getting hit Bobby finally agrees to take on the job of his construction-worker brother-in-law, Jack Dolan (Kevin Costner).Toughest hit is 60-year-old Phil Woodward, who now lacks any traits making him employable. Too old to find a new career, but too low on the ladder to get offered positions in this tough economic climate. For Gene McClary, owner as vast shares at GTX, being fired on a golden parachute entails almost no financial problems, however it does bring out a disillusionment with his former CEO and best friend James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson), downsizing for personal gain, paying himself out hefty multimillion dollar profits, while thousands go unemployed. Now resetting to a world, where money is a product in itself, he reminisces of a time, when people knew their real worth building physical objects, not just functioning in an increasingly virtual and lopsided economy.With a story deserving better script treatment, the main issue comes from an almost total lack of connection with the three protagonists. Given the overall situation of millions working minimum wage jobs, the plight of three rich white guys going through a rough spot seems detached from the ordinary man. Despite the real tragedy that hits during the movie, the 'inconveniences' seem timid at best, barely cause you to flinch when Bobby Walker has to sell his beloved sports car (as if he really needed it). Given the overall consumerist culture attacking corporate and everyday America, the breath of reality barely resonates, let alone devastate. Unfortunately most time is afforded to Bobby Walker, whose story hardly hits home, involves or causes the slightest compassion. Even more so that writer / director John Wells teases Bobby with two imminent job opportunities, only to take them away in truly awkward jarring fashion.The much more intriguing story themes lurk with Woodward and McClary. The first destroyed by the realisation, that his world has ended, but no one has even seemed to notice. Probably the only honest, humanist message apparent, more involving than the big money work break of Bobby Walker. On the other hand corporate exec McClary brings some well-rounded insight and contemplation into culture of corporate America, even if at times it is pretty superficial, as if taken from headlines of blog articles ranting at corrupt CEO (however true this may be, you would expect a bit more in-depth commentary from high-end educated multi-millionaires).