In the Company of Men

Playwright Neil LaBute's film-directing debut is an impressively witty yet unsettling study of male insecurity, misogyny and rivalry. Away on a six-week business trip in a strange town, grouchy, resentful thirty-something execs Eckhart and Malloy decide to take revenge for their recently broken relationships by choosing a vulnerable, lonely woman for both of them (unbeknown to her) to date and dump. The scheme is put into action with deaf typist Edwards (a remarkable performance), but the best laid plans... Poised precariously but skilfully between realism and allegory, black comedy and straight drama, the movie makes the very most of its few locations by opting for a strangely timeless feel, and by focusing attention squarely on the three central performances and LaBute's clever, insightful script. Cruel, cool and pleasingly provocative.