Up in the Air by Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman is one of the most intelligent people working in mainstream Hollywood today. He is a man who knows how to get a movie made, give it some style, some brains, some meaning, some quirk, and still get everyone to see it. This year he returns to the screen after his oscar nominated Juno with Up in the Air. Up in the Air is about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who is paid to travel the country to fire people on behalf of their bosses. He loves his job, he loves the idea of reaching a magic number of frequent flyer miles, he loves living up in the air with nothing to tie him down. This is all threatened when the intelligent Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) walks into his life with a plan to keep everyone at home and fire people online. Ryan takes Natalie under his wing to show her why he does what he does. Along the way he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga) who lives a life identical to his, and he sees in her a kindred spirit. The film is intercut with real peoples reactions to getting fired. This all plays well, in fact from the cold clinical technical aspect Up in the Air is a flawless film. It has the best performance of Clooney's career, though it seems as though he is just playing himself. Its screenplay is witty without the quirkiness of Juno, and smooth like butter. The movie has the sheen of a new car, it is sleek, stylish, and everything you could expect, except one thing. For all its perfection Up in the Air seems to miss out entirely on heart. Sure there are scenes meant to redeem the cold life of Ryan, but they are too small, too late, and little proof of any change, and by the end you aren't really sure what to feel besides a little bit of a chill. This movie came out right at the right time as our economy aches and people lose their jobs everyday, and it never preaches which is a wise thing, but I have to wonder what is the staying power of such a movie? Who will care about this movie ten years from now when things don't suck as much (we hope)? Is Ryan's arch as a character enough for the film to stand alone outside of social circumstance? I cannot say, only time will tell, but for me this movie hardly stands up for this years let alone years to come.

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