In the Company of Men (1997)

In the Company of Men is The Good Father meets The Business of Strangers. It's a taut, aggravating psychological drama that showcases what some men as well as some women of small social conscience do in the real world to the opposite gender all the time: the dating and dumping game. (Watch any Sex and the City episode to see how a given man or woman will scurry to be the first to do the dumping -- because 'tis better to dump than to be dumped.) What's infuriating about the 30-ish fratboy lead character, Chad (Aaron Eckhart), is that he deliberately and maliciously chooses to date and dump an innocent and vulnerable woman -- just for spite -- and talks his nebbish college-chum co-worker (Matt Malloy) into playing along, turning his dirty trick into a competitive sport to boot. Just as Anthony Hopkins in The Good Father misogynistically growled at Jim Broadbent "You have to jerk their chain!" here Aaron Eckhart murmurs "You can't give up control!" Stacy Edwards is their attractive victim, channeling Marlee Matlin to play a deaf woman who can read lips and use her "deaf voice." (For those not familiar with deaf culture -- and Chad is bilious about her speech impediment -- she is not "deaf-mute," merely deaf. Stacy Edwards evinces a beautiful voice and personality, convincingly portraying a deaf woman and readily reflecting many of the compassionate qualities so commonly found in deaf persons who have raised themselves to parity in the hearing culture. As a comic treat that will resonate with the deaf, Matt Malloy's character clearly is pleased with himself for learning two three-word phrases in American Sign Language -- and no, one of them is not "I love you.") The movie's ending wields a double twist that will make it unmistakable that Chad is not just a cad, he is a sociopath and a very bad man. In the end, even a nice woman will pass over a nice guy because the Machiavellian guy simply does "whatever it takes" to "get the girl." Do women really want a "nice guy" -- or an "effective guy," a "manly man" (even if he is a jerk)? I am worried about the reviewers who think this movie is hilarious! If you have a heart, this movie will make you think as well as feel angry -- but that's better than feeding us pablum or sweetness and light. This movie draws a line in the sand and makes you glad you're on the right side of it. After all, there but for the grace of God goes anyone. 4.5 stars.