Didn't you hear? Financial crises are all the rage these days. I mean, yeah, there's all those meltdowns going on on Wall Street, but I'm talking about the two movies with identical titles, and somewhat identical stars, that are both in production in Hollywood right now. There's The Company Men with Ron Livingston, an indie comedy about a man trying to save a sinking company, and now there's The Company Men with Ben Affleck, a drama a man who is laid off and has to deal with the financial consequences.
I just spent the last 10 minutes researching the two and am fairly certain they aren't the same movie. The Hollywood Reporter makes no mention of the Livingston Company Men project, which was announced in Variety last month. The Affleck version will be written and directed by John Wells, who is making his feature directing debut but has directed several episodes of ER.
With the current financial crisis looking to last a long, long time, movies about finance may become the equivalent of Iraq war movies-- timely and important, but too depressing and reminiscent of audience's actual troubles at home. Do you want to see Ben Affleck lose his job when you're worried about losing your own? But hey, maybe by the time these movies come out we'll actually understand the financial crisis, and might be ready to move beyond it and laugh, even we have to sneak into the movie because we can no longer afford the ticket. Welcome to the recession, everyone!
