Review of Up in The Air

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by Justin Veals in Movie Reviews

This past year, I have watched 3 movies starring George Clooney. The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Men Who Stare at Goats, and Up in The Air. The only one of these movies that missed Mr. Clooney’s towering mark was the horribly paced and meandering Men Who Stare at Goats.

Well, I guess 2 out 3 ain’t bad.

In the Beginning, Up in The Air appears to be another take on the classic man versus technology trope – think John Henry with airplanes. However, as the movie progresses the true intent of the story unfolds.

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who works for a company that is hired by other companies to fire their employees. Bingham spends over 300 days on the road each year, and he loves it.

His way of life becomes threatened when a young lady by the name of Natalie Keener – played by Anna Kendrick from the Twilight Saga – devises a way to cut the cost of their service by firing people via webcam instead of in person. Bingham convinces his boss – portrayed by the always brilliant Justin Bateman – that Natalie does not have the experience to revolutionize their business. So, Bingham is forced to take Natalie on the road to show her the ropes.

From here on, I don’t want to give too many details. I think they might ruin the movie for you. I will say this, every consecutive minute I was further drawn into the story and the characters. I got to watch Ryan Bingham burst through the bubble of solitude that he had spent years building.

He has a romance on the road with fellow traveler Alex Goran. The beautiful Vera Farmiga brings Goran to life. Her performance melds perfectly with Clooney, and their romance leads to one of the most heart wrenching scenes that the movie offers.

What really sets the tone of this film is the parade of poor souls that are sent packing by Bingham and Keener throughout the movie. The interesting thing about this is that with the exception of the famous actors, every person you see fired in the film is not an actor but someone who had recently been laid off in real life.

The filmmakers put out ads in St. Louis and Detroit posing as a documentary crew looking to document the effect of the recession. When people showed up, they were instructed to treat the camera like the person who fired them and respond as they did or use the opportunity to say what they wish they had said when they were let go. Some are crying, some are angry, but all of them are genuine and you can really tell as you watch it. These regular people dealing with the hardships of the current recession give some of the strongest tugs on your heart during the first half of the film.

Up in The Air is a movie with a singular message: Life is always better with company. It’s hard to make good memories without someone that you love to share them with. Ryan Bingham learns this lesson, but not without stumbling and life smacking him in the face. The filmmakers managed to deliver all of this without any excess cheese. For this, I applaud them, and give this movie 4 ½ out of 5.

Thanks for reading!

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