best movie i've ever seen.

A different way of telling a story

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Two business executives -- one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest -- set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.This was the debut film for Neil LaBute, with a focus on hurting others, and the density of dialogue... my first experience with LaBute was actually reading "The Shape of Things", and some similar themes are addressed there -- so we have at least two occasions where he has a story about singling a person out to ruin their lives.We can see this as sort of a parallel to "Cruel Intentions" or the older version of the story (I forget the name, "Dangerous Liaisons"?). Except here, rather than bored aristocrats a wealthy kids, we have people whose lives are so mundane that the only joy they can find is attacking those below them... there may be satire here, but it seems all too real.

From directorial debut of Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty), the premise of the film sounded a very interesting black comedy drama, and being five stars, I wasn't going to miss it. Basically work buddy junior executives Chad (The Dark Knight's Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) are on a six week business trip, and have both recently been hurt by women. They plot an horrible to find the most naive and vulnerable women they can as revenge to all women, to find her, date her, romance her, and then dump her, with her feelings and self-esteem being completely destroyed. They choose their perfect victim, deaf secretary Christine (Stacy Edwards), who can only understand people by reading their lips. It goes according to plan, especially for Chad who she is most smitten with, however it is complicated for Howard who has genuinely fallen for Christina. Howard cannot stand to see Christine being hurt and tells her the "game" that he and Chad has formed, and she obviously tells Chad she knows, only slapping him, after he leaves crying on the bed. Weeks later, Chad's real girlfriend Suzanne (Emily Cline) hadn't actually left him, like he had told Howard earlier, so no real change to his life, and the last thing Howard does is try to talk to Christine, but she ignores him, and the film ends with him constantly shouting "listen". This independent black comedy drama is brave, hard-hitting, controversial and in some moments deliberately uncomfortable viewing, so I would definitely recommend it. Very good!

Not a typical film, it looks more like a play. A series of set-piece dialogues in which it is very rare to see even three people in any given scene. Set in a non-specific 'corporate' world in nameless locations the film suggests that these people could be living near you... Chad and Howard are colleagues and friends, embittered with the world. Women, work colleagues, the system have all conspired to hold them back, nothing is their fault, they just haven't got them breaks. Chad decides to play a cruel game in which while on a six week relocation they will both 'romance' the same woman then dump her. Break her heart just for the hell of it. In their dotage they can bask in the glory of her humiliation. Though Howard appears the weaker of the two men he agrees to play an active role. These are not easy people to like, but the sad thing is they probably *do* exist somewhere near you. Chad is charisma and charm while spitting venom in private. Is Howard simply more easily led? I cannot decide, but he is no saint. They want a 'vulnerable' woman so a deaf typist is to these men ideal, they look down on women, a disabled woman even more so. I will not go any further with the actual story, it is worth sticking with despite it being at times difficult viewing. Refreshingly different.

Wow, Neil LaBute doesn't like people much, does he? Just a couple of days after seeing his superb 2003 effort "The Shape of Things", I decided to watch his first film and Sundance hit "In the Company of Men". This makes the bleak, misanthropic "The Shape of Things" look like "Singin' in the Rain". The IMDb plot summary says it all: Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.The avowed misogynist is Chad, played by Aaron Eckhart in one of the most subtly effective male performances of all time. Chad, this character, is probably the most purely evil character ever portrayed on film. Sure, there are psychos, sickos, nuts who chop people up, but they're really not all that real, and sometimes it's because they're not sane. Chad's real, and Chad's sane. When asked why he did it near the end of the film he says, coldly, 'because I could'. That's pure evil right there- a phenomenon we'd love to think is rare but which really isn't.The film is not a 'comedy' as the IMDb page suggests. I find the suggestion to be absurd and idiotic. Sure, there is dark humor here, and it is ultimately satirical, but it is at least as much a drama as a comedy and in my own perception far more significantly a drama. The film confronts head-on the male-driven workplace and its victimization of women, it confronts head-on the brand of misogyny that isn't uncommon among the white male businessman in North America today. That's not to say these characters, and the situation, aren't exaggerated. Sure they are, but that's a perfectly conscious, acceptable decision by the writer. The important thing is that the characters feel real, and that it is entirely possible for something like this to happen. Like "The Shape of Things" LaBute's screenplay is in-your-face and clear-cut about what it's trying to say. That there are people out there still having indignant 'it's so misogynist!' reactions to this film is amazing, they have to be either incredibly stupid or maybe they just weren't paying attention. Oh, I'm sure guys like Chad loved watching the film in spite of what it was trying to say because they supported his actions, but that doesn't change the fact that Chad is the villain in the film. Howard's a victim as well, not to the degree that Christine is, but still a victim. Without any overacting or psychotic antics, Eckhart embodies a significantly real, cold sort of evil which the movies rarely feature. This movie may feel a bit pointless in the end, because it's basically about how incredibly awful us human beings can be to each other, and how naive the victims amongst us are, but it's a terrific screenplay and film regardless.