The X-Box scene made no sense - The Company Men (2011) Discussion

[–] cborder-1 14 years ago

Just saw the movie and that was the only part I scratched my head at.

It's not like a car or house where you put payments on it. Once it's bought, it's bought.

The only thing I can think of was maybe she was making a point, that if he hadn't had an XBOX before there was no way they could afford one now since Ben Affleck lost his job.

reply

[–] jomai2040 14 years ago

Exactly. But in my way of thinking, probably she was referring to the XBOX Live account. Though I don't have an XBOX, I believe Microsoft charges for XBOX Live at $100 a month or something. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

reply

[–] cborder-1 14 years ago

No, it's 60 bucks a year or you can pay 10 bucks a month.

reply

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Yorick_Brown 14 years ago

I don't play video games and even I knew they were referring to an X-BOX live account.

You and I were made for this
I was made to taste your kiss
We were made to never fall away

reply

[–] snarby1 14 years ago

the funny thing is that i think the next scene is ben affleck riding up to work in his brand new workbelt and timberlands probably 100+ bucks all together and not totally necessary for what he was doing.

I am me, you are you. http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=42036194

reply

[–] Yorick_Brown 14 years ago

Learn to spell and reply to the correct user.

You and I were made for this
I was made to taste your kiss
We were made to never fall away

reply

[–] Druff 14 years ago

They weren't referring to an XBL account. You don't need an XBL account to play Guitar Hero or any other game with a single player mode.

It was a bit of clumsy writing that doesn't hold up against scrutiny, simple as that.

reply

[–] Yorick_Brown 14 years ago

They weren't referring to an XBL account.

Yes. They were.

You don't need an XBL account to play Guitar Hero or any other game with a single player mode.

Yeah, so?

I'll be the sky that lights up with fireworks
Whenever Novembers comes...

-Athlete

reply

[–] Druff 14 years ago

Yes. They were.

If that's the case, then the writing isn't merely clumsy, it's downright stupid. The mother was a fairly intelligent person, she wouldn't use the term "give back" in reference to an account. You don't "give back" accounts. You close or cancel them.

reply

[–] Yorick_Brown 14 years ago

Quit nit-picking, responding to old and forgotten and get a life.

I'll be the sky that lights up with fireworks
Whenever Novembers comes...

-Athlete

reply

[–] Druff 14 years ago

Actually, I think I'll continue to do whatever the hell I feel like doing. But thanks for the suggestion, dick.

reply

[–] kamas1 14 years ago

The message was that the boy & mother were more realistic than Ben Affleck's character. He refused to accept that he was not earning a living & held to his expensive stuff for as long as he could.

reply

[–] HankFlanders 14 years ago

I didn't understand that either. As I recall, the mother said he "gave" it back. Who do you "give" an X-Box back to, and what would be the point? You could sell the X-Box to make some money, or you could at least cut off the X-Box Live account if you couldn't afford the $10 monthly fee, but I don't understand the financial sense in giving an X-Box away. I understand the point of the scene itself, but I guess I just don't understand the dialog.

reply

[–] prats6 14 years ago

I guess this scene was more to do with comparison, where his son understands that the family is going through tough times but Ben somehow is living an illusion that he will eventually land up a plum job and waking him up hence. Good way to put it, I suppose.

reply

[–] artistathome 14 years ago

Yeah, was he buying it on time and he gave it back to them? ARe the writers that much out of touch with reality?
YOu buy the Xbox, you don't rent it.

MY grandson has an Xbox 360...the Xboxes are old.

Gosh there were so many details that made me say "HUH?"

reply

[–] BlueCatsFan 14 years ago

X-box, X-box 360 ... it really doesn't matter. We all know what he's talking about. The whole point of the scene was to show that the son understood the situation and was able to sacrifice part of his lifestyle to accomodate it (in contrast to Bobby, who wanted to play golf). The x-box was just a device to show that. You don't have to nitpick about it.

reply

[–] jays212 14 years ago

I nitpick things that are poorly written and don't make sense. We all understand it's a device to show the difference between the son and the dad. But the whole thing was incredibly stupid.

reply

[–] Sartre2001 14 years ago

I'm sorry, but these comments are what seem incredibly stupid. In the scene, the wife mentions she's offered a late shift the next evening, and Affleck says "but it's New Years Eve", and she says that they need the money. This sets up the timing - and immediately comes the line about the xbox. It was clear to me that the boy got an xbox for Christmas, and instead of opening it, he asked his mom if he could 'give it back' since he knows they're having money problems. Even though it might not be that much money, it still demonstrates the shared sacrifice many families are going through, and how he wanted to help in any way, however small, that he could.

It was not poorly written, and it made perfect sense to people who pay attention.

reply

[–] tony3920 14 years ago

Nope.

In the very beginning of the movie where they are panning through the house, showing all of the "possessions" they show an Xbox hooked up to a big screen TV along with a bunch of gear for it all over the room

reply

[–] utazdevl 14 years ago

If you saw one hooked up, I'd call it a continuity error, not a sign of a poorly written script.

reply

[–] Black_Gabriel 14 years ago

This exactly. Also x box 360's are like 300 bucks. I don't know about all the other rich posters here but thats alot of money to me haha. If they were having trouble putting food on the table giving that back or selling it would help quite a bit.

Evil must be punished. Even in the face of armageddon I will not compromise in this.

reply

[–] Ace19444 14 years ago

300 bucks can be stretched a LONG WAY, much more than people realize. a box of fried rice is a buck, store brand anything is always cheaper, if you want a drink then a 40 oz. brew is less than 2 bucks, etc. I can definitely see how they can stretch it out, the wife also seems like she'd had experience at some point with having to scrape by

reply

[–] utazdevl 14 years ago

100% how I saw it. Was beginning to think I was crazy with all this talk over semantics like the use of the term "give it back" instead of "return it".

reply

[–] hartford17 14 years ago

The way that they speak about the X-box makes no sense. If the Walkers couldn't have afforded it, they wouldn't have bought their son an X-box only for him to return it five days later. He wouldn't have asked for it if he didn't want it and the Walkers certainly wouldn't have given him a $300 gift on a whim. And since the son uses the phrase "give it back" he's obviously not talking about an X-Box Live subscription. You don't return subscriptions, you cancel them.

The writer could have easily made a more logical choice here - kids have lots of recurring expenses, just like adults. Maybe the son decides they can't afford for him to play hockey this year? That's hundreds of dollars of expenses every year. It would have needed to come a little earlier in the movie, but that would not have been a dramatic change to the story.

It's just one of those scenes that makes you scratch your head and ask, "How did no one notice this?"

reply

[–] ulrick 14 years ago

They probably had an XBox 360 with a bunch of games, including a guitar hero rig , since they mention guitar hero.

the son is returning it to the store symbolically. he's just a kid, not an accountant. This is all about the family pitching in to tight up their belt and how irrationality terrified the kid now is of the family going broke.

the real wtf is how did that family nose dive so rapidly with all those belongings (he had a freaking porshe, that could sell?), what happened to the 'come next friday' job, and how did he go for a carpenter job instead of ... just about anything else.

reply

[–] Howlin Wolf 13 years ago

They should've written the scene for the mum to say that he traded it for a small amount of money that would help the family with the rest of their bills... That would have made much more sense.

Born when she kissed me, died when she left me, lived whilst she loved me

reply

[–] daimposter 13 years ago

When I first saw it, I was puzzled by 'gave it back'. I was thinking that if they had it for sometime how do you give it back to make money? I just recently saw it so its fresh in my mind. I didn't put two and two together with the NYE comment but that's exactly what the writer had intended. The Xbox or Xbox 360 was a Christmas gift and the kid gave it back to the mom to return it. If there was an Xbox 360 in the opening scene, I would chalk that up to a continuity error.

The point of that scene, even if it was somewhat confusing, was that the kid had a better sense of the financial troubles than the father. If the Xbox 360 is $300 or $400, that goes a long way when the father is out of job. He is showing responsibility while the father continues to ride his Porsche.

reply

[–] ruffian82 13 years ago

It could have been a bike or a carved marble chess set. It was a character development and a symbol.

reply

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Howlin Wolf 13 years ago

Why would you wait 6 whole days to open a Christmas present?! If you're so concerned about the household budget, then why didn't you ask your parents to take it back as soon as the stores opened again after the holiday?!

The structure of the scene was to make a point, alright... but the details that the scenario was composed of make it unrealistic.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, and it is nitpicking... but it is ALSO undoubtedly a plot hole.

Born when she kissed me, died when she left me, lived whilst she loved me

reply

[–] pezzltj 13 years ago

Yes! Sartre was right, it was xmas time, and while I assumed the kid already had an xbox360 by the game room shot at the beginning, all I really saw was guitar hero stuff, and wii-motes, so he probably just had guitar hero on Wii.

The kid gave back his xmas present because he knew the family was in hard times, I love that the message board for this movie spawned a 3 page argument about what was meant by that scene. Since people are getting all hung up on whether it was an xbox live account, selling a system to gamestop, returning an xmas present I can tell that many of you are little kids. This leads me to 1 question, why were kids watching this movie that they can't relate to one bit, where the xbox situation was the most interesting and thought provoking scene...

reply