If there was an award for Most Misogynistic Movie of All Time, In the Company of Men could quite easily be a contender. Neil LaBute's comedy is about as black as they come, plunging the audience into the depths of emotional cruelty and misplaced revenge. Fed up of being messed around by their ladies, Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) decide to exact a particularly vicious brand of retribution on womankind, devising a scheme to seduce and then abruptly dump an emotionally insecure woman. They choose deaf office worker Christine (Stacy Edwards) and proceed to alternately take her out on dates, ramping up the fake perception of a burgeoning romance with each encounter. In the Company of Men depicts a truly ugly side of human nature. Chad is a borderline psychopath who takes genuine delight in his verbal torrents of disgust towards the females of the species, and full credit goes to Eckhart for taking on - and appearing to relish - such a thoroughly unlikable monstrosity. His colleague and partner in crime Howard offers a stark contrast as a truly pitiable, pathetic figure of emaciated masculinity, every bit as much a victim of the alpha male as the innocent woman they seduce. Such a shame that LaBute went on to film the laughable remake of The Wicker Man, proving that even decent directors can make dreadful decisions.
