
DATE: Saturday, October 11, 1997            TAG: 9710130229

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

GAME OF SEDUCTION IS PLAYED IMPLAUSIBLY

WHEN ``IN THE Company of Men'' was released, several months ago in New York and Los Angeles, it caused quite a stir among the movie cultists, who immediately predicted that it would be a major new statement in the nationwide battle of the sexes. It was expected to draw the gender lines in a way that no film had since ``Fatal Attraction.''

The mainstream film audience, though, has failed to become as involved as expected, and it is easy to see why. While ``In the Company of Men'' draws a shockingly malignant and cruel picture of the way men might ``use'' women, it is also afflicted with some major problems of plausibility. It ultimately has too many comic touches for its own good.

Aaron Eckhart and Matt Mallow play two junior executives who plan, out of revenge as well as sheer hate, to seduce and dump a vulnerable woman. That's the plot, the entire plot.

The two simply want to prove they can do it. They want to leave the woman distraught, shattered and, as they put it, ``reaching for the sleeping pills.''

The most seriously evil of the two is Chad, played by Eckhart, a tall blond who might believably be taken as a lady killer. He's also a racist and a cutthroat office manipulator - the kind who is in every office.

Just to make sure that the cards are thoroughly stacked, the chosen victim is a deaf woman (Stacy Edward) who is in the typing pool. Presumably she hasn't had a date in quite awhile. She's beautiful, however, and supposedly intelligent. Why doesn't she suspect something, particularly when she learns that these two non-gentleman callers know each other? The seduction is much too easy and the situation much too pat - evil vs. good with no shades of gray.

The other guy is Howard, played by Matt Malloy, something of a nerd. Why does the woman go out with him at all when she supposedly has the hunkish Eckhart on her dating agenda?

Women are going to be furious with these guys and quite free with comments that the film is true to the ultimate height of truism. But don't expect men to jump to the defense of these jerks - not if they're smart, even though there are some guys who will likely see this film as a fantasy. (Will there be any guys who will secretly ask themselves is they could get away with this? What do you think?)

Neil LaBute's dialogue is better than his plot, but his reluctance to really get serious about the ultra-evil of sexual power gives us too many cop-outs of chuckles. His writing is very imitative of David Mamet, complete with his idea of how the guys talk around the water cooler. There is a touch, but only a touch, of business hypocrisy that would have given the film broader depth.

The real game here, though, is sexual power. ``In the Company of Men'' is an interesting spectator sport, but it allows us too many easy outs. Given its advance reputation, it should be much more shocking, and involving, than it is. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

SONY PICTURES

Aaron Eckhart plays an executive who sets out to seduce a vulnerable

woman played by Stacy Edwards in ``In the Company of Men.''

Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``In the Company of Men''

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edward

Director and writer: Neil LaBute

MPAA rating: R (language, langauge and more language)

Mal's rating: two and 1/2 stars