Neil LaBute’s drama “In the Company of Men” is not a natural choice for parody, but if someone tightened their thinking cap it would be possible to have a good time goofing on this devious, mean-spirited drama. However, “In the Company of Agents” is probably not the film which most people would dream up.
LaBute’s love-em-and-leave-em nastiness is transported here to a high-powered Hollywood literary agency, with two brutal young agents playing their dirty tricks on an unsuspecting pizza delivery guy with aspirations of being a screenwriter. Sound funny? Of course not! This is a comedy which misfires at every possible level, from the awful concept through the amateurish execution. It is hard to imagine what writer Chris Deering and producer-director Robert Duncan were thinking when they planned this limp little movie out.
Special dissing is required for the central performances of Christian Martin and John Schaffer as the agents and Mark Schrier as their unsuspecting target. It is quite possible that these gentlemen are capable of wonderful acting. However, “In the Company of Agents” presents them in such dreadful performances that it might be wise if they casually forgot to include this on their respective curriculum vitæs.
