A life without many if any emotional attachments seems like an appealing lifestyle to many, especially for those who are ever so career minded. To not have to worry about kids because you don’t have any, and to not get involved in serious relationships with others leaves you with a lot of open room to breathe in. But what happens when something comes along to break the façade of this lifestyle to pieces? Will you be able to handle it without reverting to your old ways? Will it make you realize just how lonely a person you are to where you have no idea of how to allievate the permanent state of solitude you’re stuck in? One thing’s for sure, this kind of life is not meant to last forever, and a rude awakening is out there waiting to pounce all over you. Hugh Grant got to play a character who lived this kind of like in one of his best films, “About A Boy.” Now we have George Clooney living that kind of life in Jason Reitman’s brilliant new movie, “Up In The Air.”
Based on the 2001 novel by Walter Kim, Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a man whose job is to travel all over the country to corporate offices to layoff employees. Companies hire people like Ryan so that the bosses of these employees can squirm their way out of this responsibility (pussies). His job is not all that different from those military officers or police officers who have the unwanted assignment of telling families that their husbands, wives or long lost relatives have died. While Ryan is not informing anyone of a dead family member, the people on the receiving end don’t really react all that differently. Still, he sees his job as a service as he tries to get them to see that this is not the end, but simply the beginning of a new life for them (easy for him to say). In addition, he also conducts conferences where he talks about “emptying the backpack” of attachments and things you don’t really need. Hence, the backpack is clearly symbolic of his life at this point for there is not much of anything in it.
The perks of this unappealing job? It does allow him to travel on airplanes for over 300 days out of the year. He does have a puny one-bedroom back in
This could very well be the best performance of George Clooney’s career, and he has given a lot of great performances (and I don’t just mean this holiday season). His performances in “Syriana” and “Michael Clayton” show how good he is at playing the world weary man who has seen just about everything, but who still has some will left to change his circumstances. From a distance, this almost seems like a walk in the park for Clooney as we see him in the trailers flashing that famous grin that he does every five minutes. But he brings a real depth to a really well written character, and despite the fact that he plays a man none of us would want to meet ever, George makes Ryan Bingham likable and very sympathetic.
Bingham ends up capturing the attention of another corporate employee who spends more time in the air than in the office, Alex Goran. Alex is played by Vera Farmiga, and she is as great in the role as she is seriously sexy! The first scene between these two reminded me so much of that scene in “Jaws” where Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss compare their scars; they show off all these executive cards and credit cards they have earned from travelling so much and for staying in the same hotels (god forbid they lose any customers). The chemistry between Clooney and Farmiga is instant and sells us on their budding relationship almost immediately. You want these two to end up together. They are essentially the same kind of person, although Vera puts it in another way:
“I’m like you with a vagina.”
Of course, there is a third wheel to balance things out in the movie and give a little more perspective on things. That third wheel is Natalie Keener, a recent graduate from
With this development comes the road movie part of “Up In The Air” as Bingham takes Kendrick to different cities all over the country to show her how he does his job, and of how the use of computers will take away from it (not to mention his frequent flier miles). Anna does brilliant work taking her character from being confident yet naïve to vulnerable and sad. None of the education she got at a top rate university could ever have prepared her for the unpredictability of a job that is never easy no matter how it’s done. Seeing her address a corporate meeting to her doing a drunken karaoke rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” should give you an idea of the range of her role.
Watching Clooney instruct Kendrick on how to pack her suitcase and leave stuff out she needs is hilarious as it reminds me of my parents constantly begging me to put everything in one suitcase when traveling. This way, I won’t have to check any luggage in. I don’t know about you, but I get so sick and tired of hauling a suitcase all over the place when I have my messenger bag to worry about already. Who packed this suitcase anyway? Oh wait a minute…
With “Up In The Air,” writer/director Jason Reitman hits his third home run as a filmmaker, and he firmly establishes himself as one of the best damn thing to happen to motion pictures right now. While this should have been apparent from the start with “Thank You For Smoking” and even more so with “Juno,” it is made abundantly clear here that he has a firm hold on the vision he has for each movie he makes. Jason even makes this movie even more authentic in regards to our current state of high unemployment by casting real people who have actually lost their jobs. It brings a lot more reality to a movie and reminds us of how unfair life can be despite doing the best job possible. Jason also does not sell out the movie with a false ending where everything is wrapped up neatly. Each character is on their separate journey, but their final destinations remain unknown to them.
Reitman also populates the movie with other great actors who make as strong an imprint on the film as the leads do. Jason Bateman plays Bingham’s boss, Craig Gregory, and this role is the flipside of the manager he played recently in “Extract.” It turns out that Bateman can be charming in one role and utterly smarmy in another with no problem. Amy Morton is also really good as Ryan’s estranged sister Kara, a woman suffering through her own midlife crises that her brother makes it look like he is getting through with no problem. Melanie Lynskey (great in both “The Informant!” and “Away We Go”) is a wonderful presence as Julie, Ryan’s younger sister who is about to get married. I was also surprised to see Danny McBride (“Tropic Thunder” and “Pineapple Express”) here in a slightly more dramatic role as Julie’s soon-to-be husband, Jim Miller. Danny definitely has some funny moments, but he really sells himself well here as a man who is not sure if he’s doing the right thing or not.
I also have to give a lot of credit to a couple of actors who make the most of their respective cameos. Zach Galifianakis, having almost completely walked away with “The Hangover,” gives this movie one of its funniest moments as Steve, one of many fired employees that Bingham has had to face. Looking at the things Zach’s character could have done had he been fired by his cowardly boss was hysterical. Then you have J.K. Simmons, one of this year’s best used character actors thanks to his work in “Extract” and “Jennifer’s Body” among other films. As Bob, J.K. gives his suddenly jobless character a morbid sense of humor as he manages to contain himself in his understandably pissed off state. When George Clooney ends up making Bob see that this is not an end but a beginning, Simmons takes his character from depressed to somewhat aroused with possibilities he thought were long lost to him. He is onscreen for only a couple of minutes, but J.K. Simmons infuses his role with a dry sense of humor that makes his performance so memorably great.
That’s one of the things I really loved about “Up In The Air;” the characters are very complex even if they’re not onscreen for very long. We may have the stereotypical traits of each character nailed into our heads, but they keep revealing different parts of their personalities that we didn’t see coming. Once we have these characters figured out, another layer is revealed which affects their relationships with one another as well as the dynamics between them. I would love it if more movies allowed to have more multi-faceted characters in them instead of just succumbing to one-dimensional freaks who exist to annoy the hell out of you (but enough of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” already!).
“Up In The Air” will definitely be on my list of the best movies of 2009. It is funny and moving, and endlessly entertaining. With this film, George Clooney completes what has truly been a great holiday season for him along with “The Men Who Stare At Goats” and “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.” It even has a cameo by Young MC singing his biggest hit “Bust a Move.” I have say that he has put on a lot of weight since the late 80’s. I should talk though…
**** out of ****
Great review. This film will definitly be high on my best of 09 list. Great film as that and "The Hurt Locker" are the leading contenders for Best Picture.