Even high-flying company hotshots can elicit sympathy during a recession. Who knew? If you don't believe us, have a look at the trailer for John Wells' **The Company Men, and see if Ben Affleck doesn't make you go "awww" just a little bit.
Writer/director Wells was a creative force behind ER since its very beginning, and he's assembled an impressive ensemble here, in Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson and Kevin Costner.
Affleck is the mover and shaker who loses his Porsche when the recession hits; Bello is the HR boss who fires him; Cooper and Jones are the Company-Men-With-Integrity whose jobs are also under threat at Affleck's former firm; Nelson's the CEO; and Costner, in another of his rough-diamond, blue-collar roles a la The Upside of Anger, is Affleck's carpenter brother-in-law.
Clearly it's Affleck's trailer, but we reckon the plural "Men" in the title is significant and Cooper and Jones will provide more than just support. On the evidence so far, The Company Men is a kind of anti-Wall Street, while tone-wise there's possibly a trace of Up in the Air in there. No bad thing at all, you'll agree.
Some people have already seen it: it premiered at Sundance in January. But for everyone else, The Company Men should be in business in the autumn.