Review: Up in the Air

       My father used to be a road warrior, no where on the scale of George Clooney's character Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air, but he spent a lot of time flying across the country. Watching Clooney effortlessly make his way through security checkpoints and relaxing in the executive lounge between flights reminded me of when I and the rest of my family would join my dad on his business trips. The difference between my dad and Ryan Bingham is that Bingham enjoys his time on airplanes and in airports. Early in the film we learn that in the previous year, Bingham had spent 322 days on the road, spending just a month and a half at home in his small, bare apartment. He feels at home in the sky and then things take a turn when he is grounded.

        Bingham's job is too go into a business that is downsizing and fire employees because their bosses don't have enough backbone to do it themselves. With the economy in the tank, Bingham's business is booming. One day, Bingham's boss (Jason Bateman) call Bingham and all of the other road warriors to a meeting where, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a new energetic employee fresh out of college presents her plans to save the company money by firing people via webcam rather than flying people all over the country. Bingham can't believe it, not only does he think that firing people this way is too impersonal, but it also threatens to take away the flight-time that he loves so much. In order to show Natalie the real ins and outs of his job, and that they can't be done over the internet, he takes her across the country with him and showing her the emotional impact firing someone can have. Meanwhile, Bingham runs into Alex (Vera Farmiga), a fellow road warrior at a hotel bar, and the two of them hit it off. Their busy schedules mean they'll see each other very rarely, so their relationship consists mostly of casual sex. When Bingham has to go to his sister's wedding, he decides to try to take their relationship to the next step and invites her as his date. While, in northern Wisconsin at the wedding, Bingham learns about the relationships that he had been previously missing out on in his isolated life on the road.

    

      This film is very well written. The idea of a man whose job it is to fire people having to fight for his own job has a certain level of irony to it that hides in the background of this movie. There is also lots of commentary about pursuing what is really important in your life, and how sometimes what seems to be important to you isn't as important as you think. Bingham is determined to earn 10 million frequent flyer miles, a feat only six other people have accomplished (more people have landed on the moon), but he feels when he finally achieves his goal. The acting is also superb. Clooney is, as always, on top of his game, but Anna Kendrick also impresses as a twenty-something still making her way in the world and unsure of how to live her life now that things aren't going according to plan. Director Jason Reitman made the inspired choice to cast real people who had recently lost their jobs as the people Clooney is firing, and it's evident that the pain and concerns that they voice are genuine. This movie meanders around a little bit, I found a subplot revolving around Bingham's second career as a motivational speaker to be somewhat unnecessary, but the film is otherwise solid. It was rightfully nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Leading Actor, and two for Best Supporting Actress. While this film is a poignant look at the human condition in the modern age, it is also a film depicting the recent economic collapse in a very realistic fashion.