The movie focuses on three high-salaried executives at a major company whose lives are upended when they receive severance packages. It plays out over the course of an entire year.

The movie opens with Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck from "The Town" and "State of Play"), Phil Woodward (Kansas City native Chris Cooper from "Adaptation," "American Beauty" and "Lone Star") and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones from "In the Valley of Elah" and "No Country for Old Men") getting ready for another day of work. Their material possessions speak volumes about their annual compensation.

Cinematographer Roger Deakins (nominated for nine Oscars including "True Grit," "No Country for Old Men" and "The Reader") shows us their large suburban homes, expensive cars and a backyard swimming pool along with all the latest technological gadgets.

Hotshot sales executive Bobby has been with the company for 12 years after receiving an MBA. He is shocked when the hatchet lady, Sally Wilcox (Maria Bello from "A History of Violence" and "The Cooler"), informs him he has been fired in the latest round of cuts. Whole divisions are being consolidated and a lot of employees end up carrying boxes of personal items to their cars.

The main thing on the mind of company founder and CEO James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson from "The Family Stone" and "Coach") is keeping the shareholders happy with a rising share price of the corporate common stock.

Phil is pushing 60 and considered grossly overpaid. He started on the factory floor as a welder of ship hulls. He has been a loyal employee for 30 years. Baby boomers will be able to identify with his character being a Vietnam veteran, a chain smoker and displaying lots of gray hair. He manages to avoid the first round of layoffs, but loses his employment while the Boston-based conglomerate's Christmas party is under way.

Gene is the executive vice president of the transportation group and was one of the first employees of the company. Salinger is Gene's oldest friend, former college roommate and the best man at his wedding. Together they built this global transportation company into a major corporate player with 60,000 employees and $11 billion in gross annual revenue. Gene is also given his pink slip on the day of the party by Sally. He didn't see it coming even though he spends the lunch hour every Tuesday in a hotel room having sex with Sally.

The movie shows how each man copes with the embarrassment of not being able to support their families.

It will be hard for the average moviegoer to have any sympathy for these men with six-figure salaries. It seems they have no savings or net worth. They never thought the gravy train would end and spent everything they made.

Phil tells Gene that his daughter's college tuition at an Ivy League school is due and he can't even make the mortgage payment on his home. He goes on to say that when he lost his job, "The world didn't stop. My life ended and nobody noticed."

Bobby is optimistic that he will get another job in a few days, but as the weeks and months go by he loses his self-esteem and sees no light at the end of the tunnel. His loving wife Maggie (Rosemary DeWitt from "Mad Men," "Rachel Getting Married" and "Cinderella Man") is level-headed and practical about their finances. She goes back to work as a nurse. She convinces Bobby to take a job with her blue-collar brother Jack (Kevin Costner from "Dances with Wolves" and "The Untouchables"), who does home construction and restoration.

This all-too-familiar gloom and doom tale is depressing and feels longer than the 104-minute running time. Although submitted for awards consideration in 10 categories, the movie was shut out of any Oscar nominations. With a grim subject matter, it seems better suited going straight to DVD or as a feature presentation on HBO.

It brings out the climate of greed that persists in corporate America and makes the viewer irate about the excessive salaries, inflated bonuses and lucrative stock options received by CEOs. It expands on the same issues raised as a subplot in the far superior Oscar contender "Up in the Air."

The acting is top drawer from the powerhouse cast of respected thespians. DeWitt is a strong female anchor in a supporting role. She gains your respect by standing by her man in a tough economy.

Composer Aaron Zigman deserves kudos for the musical score. The movie was filmed in Boston and debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Review By:
Keith Cohen "The Movie Guy"