In the Company of Men features superb cast

Long after In the Company of Men first hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles in August, the movie mecca of Knoxville is getting its first taste of the bitter film that captures the bleakness of human nature.

Neil Labute wrote, directed and co-produced the feature film which won over many critics with its fresh plot and the brilliance of its three leads.

Labute wrote a script that tackles the intricacy of the business world and the men who somehow end up dominating it. The movie starts in an airport as two white-collar executives prepare to start work on a six-week project in a satellite office.

Waiting to board the plane, Howard, whose acute portrayal is performed by Matt Malloy, tells Chad about his problem with his ex-fiance, work and life in general. Chad, cunningly played by Aaron Eckhart, only adds fuel to Howard's fire as he tells the depressed businessman about his lover also leaving him and how he fears that their younger, more deceptive co-workers are passing them by.

Their conversation lasts until they get to the hotel where Chad conceives the perfect plan. He decides that the two should exact revenge on womankind for the misery that they have put the two men through and the games that they have played on them. Chad convinces Howard to go along with this plot, which entails the two dating a helpless girl, building her up, treating her exceptionally well and then dumping her flat on her face.

The prey is a deaf typist that works at their office named Christine (Stacy Edwards). The two weave their tangled web around the poor typist, but the scheme does not go as planed for all parties involved.

The performances turned in by Eckhart, Edwards and Malloy carry the movie as they sustain emotion during times of uncomfortable silences and deliver realistic roles throughout the film. Eckhart, who appeared in the movie In and Out, does a superb job in becoming Chad, a hard-nosed, smash-mouth, cunning male chauvinist pig.

Edwards and Malloy add spectacular performances to complement Eckhart. Edwards studied for her role by spending weeks with the hearing-impaired in preparation for this part. Her portrayal of a deaf woman was so realistic that the audience is unaware that the actress is not really deaf.

The trio fit perfectly into Labute's script, flourishing with rich dialogue which is at times cancerous and hard-hitting. However, the film's cinematography is shoddy at times, probably a result of the lack of a strong financial backing.

All in all, In the Company of Men is a well-crafted script which features three great performances. It is presently showing at the Terrace Theatre.