Film Review: Up in the Air

Director: Jason Reitman

Adapted from the 2001 novel of the same name by Walter Kirn, Jason Reitman strikes again at least in terms of my watching list having very recently seen Thank You for Smoking (reviewed here: Thank You for Smoking Review). Reitman has claimed to have written the parts for the actors who played them although this didn't quite work for Natalie Keener as this role was written for Ellen Page but was ultimately played by Natalie Kendrick, although he did still meet other actors to discuss these roles. The film was very popular on release and received 6 Oscar nominations although won none so my expectations had started to creep up.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) and love interest Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga)

Ryan Bingham (charmingly played by George Clooney) works for a company called CTC who inform workers within other companies that they are being dismissed from their jobs instead of the company doing it themselves. This means that Ryan is constantly flying all over America visiting different offices to deliver the bad news like a hatchet man as well as delivering motivational speeches on the side. He proclaims that he spent 322 days on the road last year meaning he spent 43 unhappy days at home not working towards his goal of 10 million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines. On his travels he mets Alex Goran (the delightful Vera Farmiga) who is another frequent flyer who he has a casual relationship with but his world could be turned upside down by the ideas of Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who wants to revolutionize how the company operates.

Bingham is a man who obviously likes to live in limbo and not face the realities of life by constantly flying between places rather than settle down. When he meets Alex he feels he's met someone similar and it becomes captivating to see how he deals with this. One of my favourite lines from Alex being "think of me as you, but with a vagina". His life spent in the air is at a cost to the rest of his family, especially when his sister gets married and he returns for the wedding.

Ryan handing out the sack with his young colleague Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick)

The three lead actors/actresses are the key behind the success of this story, the fact that you like them as people even if they have big flaws in personality makes the film work and work well. There is a lovely blend of humour and emotion in the script. The relationship between Ryan and Natalie is cleverly worked as Ryan slowly comes around to liking Natalie despite what she stands for, some of their early clashes are great to watch with a personal favourite being when Ryan asks Natalie to fire him. This was the perfect role for Clooney and he performs it as expected.

3/4 charismatic and loveable characters with a witty script.