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"In the Company of Men" is a cult 1990s independent black comedy/drama film directed by Neil Labute and starring Aaron Eckhart. It tells the story of two Jerkass co-workers, Chad and Howard, who have recently divorced their wives, seeking revenge against the female gender. So Chad cooks up a scheme that involves going out with and baiting a young beautiful and deaf woman, then breaking up with her and emotionally destroying her. Noted for its extremely realistic and casual portrayal of misogyny and its dark character study, the film received good reviews and won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival.
Tropes Used by this film include:[]
- Complete Monster: Chad is perhaps one of the most needlessly cruel characters ever portrayed in fiction. See the main entry on the Complete Monster page for details.
- Consummate Liar: Chad is eerily convincing when he pretends to be in love with Christine.
- Crowning Moment of Funny: "SHOW ME YOUR BALLS!"
- Downer Ending: Chad ends up getting off scot free, and both Howard and Christine end up emotionally broken messes
- For the Evulz: Chad's reason for screwing up both Howard and Christine was his own sadistic pleasure.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Chad. Howard comes across as this initially, but redeems himself.
- In Love with the Mark: Howard provides a variant.
- Karma Houdini: Chad got away scot-free
- Jerkass: Chad, taken to the extreme. Howard also counts, but due to how pathetic he ends up becoming, some people think of him as a Jerkass Woobie.
- Manipulative Bastard: Chad, full stop.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: The only reason why the guy who played Chad wasn't lynched by an angry mob is that the actor is much nicer in real life.
- Moral Event Horizon: Chad backstabbing Howard and getting him demoted, as well as him completely destroying Christine emotionally at the end of the film.
- Smug Snake: Chad
- The Sociopath: Once again, Chad.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else: Chad.
- Twist Ending: Chad's girlfriend didn't really break up with him, ostensibly his motivation for the "game" in the first place.
- Villain Protagonist: Chad.