Up in the Air

Rating

Director

Jason Reitman

Screenplay

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner (Novel: Walter Kim)

Length

109 min.

Starring

George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, J.K. Simmons, Sam Eliott, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis

MPAA Rating

R for language and some sexual content.

Review

Millions of Americans fly from one point to another daily. Some on vacation. Some on business. But most of those would rather spend time with family and live life on the ground where they can connect with others. For Ryan Bingham, Up in the Air, is where he prefers to be.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is an employee termination specialist. He fires people for a living. With canned dialogue and faux positive disposition, he suggests that every great man was fired at some point and often it gives people a chance to re-examine their lives and find what makes them happy and pursue those goals. But, he doesn’t truly comprehend what it’s like for these people because he spends so much time on an airplane and in hotels that he’s never connected with another human being in a meaningful way.

All of that changes when a young corporate ingenue (Anna Kendrick) positions a new concept to his boss (Jason Bateman) that would reduce expenditures and bring the company’s employees home to their families. A sudden jolt of reality sends Ryan into defense mode hoping to convince this girl Natalie that she doesn’t understand what it’s like on the road talking with real people, but for all his success, he doesn’t either.

The film has several statements to make and thanks to director/screenwriter Jason Reitman and his screenwriting partner Sheldon Turner, those ideas are presented without forced sentimentality or unnecessary handholding. Reitman’s directorial style is fairly laid back and indistinct, but his films are so worthwhile, entertaining and message driven that you can’t help but appreciate how he’s able to hold everything together.

Although the story of a company hired just to lay off people is entirely fictitious, it’s concepts are visible in modern lay-off climates and management cowardice and that the mere suggestion that this kind of thing is possible is terrifying. But the purpose of such a conceit is more to draw attention to the difficulties that challenge many who face unemployment. This is bolstered by Reitman’s decision to cast real, unemployed people who had gone through similar mass lay-offs as subject’s of Ryan’s terminations. Although there are some ringers in the list, it’s these honest portraits that give the film more resonance than had these individuals all been actors from Hollywood.

Up in the Air isn’t just about the rise of mass unemployment or the pending technological boom that is partially at fault. It’s also about Ryan Bingham’s inability to relate with real people. He doesn’t want to get involved emotionally with others. He prefers his detached environment, even going so far as to avoid his own family. And after having spent so much time on an airplane and away from home, he has slowly lost his ability to deal with others.

Having met another person (Vera Farmiga) who shares his love of flying and being on the road, his long avoidance of all things familiar and real begins to take shape into genuine feelings for another. Ryan must learn to relate once again and in that pursuit, he discovers something about himself, a hole in his existence that he’d been avoiding for far too long.

The key triumvirate, Clooney, Kendrick and Farmiga, are further examples of why this film works so well. Clooney may be playing the man we’ve come to expect from him, but his growth in the film doesn’t feel forced or far-fetched, it’s genuine. The same can be said for the others. Kendrick’s tough-as-nails exterior, her character likely having learned from the way others acted around her in the business world, gives way to the intimidation and self-doubting of a young woman whose heart is in the right place, but doesn’t quite know how to handle it. And Farmiga takes what could have been a shallow, unenthusiastic husk spouting dialogue mechanically and creates a credible, flawed individual whose motives seem clear, but aren’t fully realized until necessary.

Comedies are tough to sell, especially ones that aren’t ribald, outlandish or insincere, but Reitman, Clooney, Kendrick and Farmiga, managed to keep the humor soft, intelligence and self-effacing yet accessible and entertaining. Up in the Air may seem far-fetched on the surface, but below it all, there’s an honesty and precision that helps make it an rewarding experience.

Review Written

January 19, 2010