A month ago before I even saw Jason Reitmans Up In The Air (2009) I pegged it as this years oscar winner for best picture. As the award season has unfolded it seems that it may be overtaken by Avatar or the more deserving The Hurt Locker. The reason for my bold prediction was A. there didn't seem to be any other sure fire winner and B. it was pegged as a movie that very specifically captured the time we live in. It certainly is a 00's movie, but does that make it worthwhile as both art and entertainment?.....I shall explore.
Reitman has an affinity for dealing with characters with jobs that the average person would not want. In his best effort, Thank You For Smoking, Aaron Eckhart plays a fast talking, charming lobbyist for the tobacco industry. In Up In The Air George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham a man who is hired by companies to fire their employees when it comes time to downsizing (that sounds familiar). The new young hot shot played by Anna Kendrick wants to cut out the personalized, face to face firings and have it done by video conferencing (video conferencing that is so like skype). There is also, planes, profiling, airport security, sexting, and alienation from personal connections. It is like Reitman thought of everything that defines our society today and put it in a blender and then wrote the rest of the story around it. I have no problem with this, but the question becomes does the story serve the themes or do the themes serve the story?
For the most part I think Reitman succeeds in his effort to give us a story that is not only topical but poignant. Sometimes however he doesn't know how to real it in when it comes to separating his point from his story. For example I think Clooneys character is too emphatic about living his own life, telling people during motivational speeches to cut off all relationships. I mean would a man his age really be this broadly drawn when it comes to this aspect of his life, or is this there more for Reitmans sake to serve the story. I mean we all know that in the end Clooney is going to realize he needs friends and family. And if you didn't know this, there is a point (spoiler alert) Clooneys sister says "Welcome back" (talk about on the nose). Do we really need this whole aspect about firing people with a video to tell us that personal contact with someone is probably better? Again serving the themes not the story. There are a multitude of examples of this sort of writing, which keep Up In The Air from being that great film.
Make no doubt about it George Clooney deserves to be a movie star. There had been a lot of comparisons to him and Carey Grant in the past, but here the comparisons are apt. The fun of this film is watching Clooney and his charm react to Kendricks sensibilities or watching him act off of the great performance by his female counterpart played by Vera Farmiga. The dialogue is not as great as everyone makes it out to be, but it is fun, I think they could have gone even more edgy with it.
Both Kendricks and Farmiga deserve recognition from the Academy for there turns in this film. Clooney is great, but sometimes he can be left out because he is playing Clooney. The acting, and Reitmans wit as a writer and director keep this film from every becoming stale or boring.
Don't get me wrong, as much as Up In The Air tries to be cautionary tale of our time, it smartly does not end with an uplifting answer to all our problems. Despite it being on the nose too many times the film does try to challenge us in the end and I respect that.
***1/2
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