Movie Review: Up in the Air

Following the success of Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking and Juno, comes Up in the Air. Here, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man whose job it is to fly around the country and fire people. Bingham, spends almost every day of the year doing this. He loves to fly, travel, and emjoys the airport so much he considers it home. Bingham carries little baggage, i.e. wife, family, house. Etc. In fact he hosts seminars to help people remove baggage from their lives. Vera Farmiga (The Departed) plays Alex, a sexy and energetic traveler, who like Bingham has little baggage in her life. Bingham and Alex soon develope a long distance relationship that for both of them, works just fine. Then along, comes Anna Kendrick (Twilight), fresh out of college and proposes to Bingham’s employers that with today’s internet and video streaming technology there is no need to fly everyone around the nation in order to fire people face to face. But rather, this can do it online in one central location. The company then decides to ground Bingham, and for a man who loves to be up in the air as much as him, being grounded is the worst possible scenario. The irony of the film is that in today’s economy where businesses are cutting back employers by the hundreds, Bingham’s company is flourishing.

The Script is really well put together and the dialogue is spot on. Suffice to say, I absolutely loved this film. Clooney embodies his character very well and Vera Farmiga is both sexy and smart. The chemistry for the two characters is perfect, and I thought the film was highly romantic. Then to top it off, Anna Kendrick delivers an above and beyond performance. Her work in the Twilight series is only a fraction of the talent that is seen in this film. She could easily be nominated for her performance, and with the Best Picture category allowing ten spots, I see this film making it into that category as well.

What I also love about this film is how it is about adults, and they act like adults without being subject to over the hill status. Recently, film like Ghost of Girlfriends Past have adults falling in love, but their actions are goofy and over the top. They act like immature kids, instead of spontaneous adults. Those films become corny and boring. Up in the Air doesn’t have that, and instead is both romantic and humanistic.

However, this film isn’t cleverly funny at every line of dialogue like Juno. Not to say that this film isn’t funny, but it is not the general mood of the film. People expecting Thank You for Smoking and Juno, may be disappointed. But what the film offers is something fresh and new from Reitman, and hopefully he continues to explore new terrain as his career continues.

Again, I loved the film. One of my favorite this year. I saw an early advanced screening, and I hope to see it again in theaters. It opens on Christmas day.

Grade: A