Reviews - Movies Written by John Shea
That brings us around to Up In The Air, a movie about a guy who fires people for a living.  And it's a comedy.  During a crappy economy and high unemployment, there's a concept that better be spot on or it's going to crash and burn badly.  In Reitman's sure hands, there was nothing to be concerned with.  This comedy works brilliantly, giving us big laughs and plenty of them, along with a good helping of sadness and loneliness.

The main character, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), isn't what you would call the deepest guy you're going to meet.  For one thing, he works for a company that handles layoffs for other companies.  Apparently any function can be outsourced if you want.  This is a job that keeps Ryan on the road about 90% of the year.  And he loves it that way.

Ryan is in love with traveling.  And it's not about the destinations that he's in love.  He has actually fetishized the process of travel.  He belongs to almost every miles club known to man.  He belongs to every VIP service, guest reward, loyalty reward or member club for hotels and car rentals.  He has detailed opinions on every hotel chain and their perks.  He takes every part of air travel and obsesses on it until he's found the very best and fastest way to do everything.  Ryan has next to no personal attachments.  He has almost no contact with his family.  He spends little more than a month total in his apartment, which is the most soulless dwelling you could imagine.  He has built a life around isolation and being rewarded for loyalty.

His idyllic existence is disrupted by the unconnected arrival of two women.  The one, Alex (Vera Farmiga) is a fellow air warrior.  They form a relationship of convenience, based almost entirely on their shared love of travel perks.  Not to mention a healthy sex life.  The other woman is Natalie (Anna Kendrick), hot out of college, ready to sell herself to a company based on her genius ideas.  In this case, her genius idea is going to result in the end of Ryan's way of life, which doesn't excite him too much.  In a last ditch effort, he convinces their boss (Jason Bateman) that Natalie's ideas can't be taken seriously until she has done the job in the field.  That gives him one last hurrah on the road.

The remainder of the movie is watching Ryan deal with the intrusion of these two into his carefully arranged lifestyle.  They affect him differently but both are direct affronts to his lifestyle.  Like his previous two movies, Up In The Air looks at the moment in a person's life when they have to decide if the time has come to get serious about life or not.  Should Ryan continue being the flyboy?  Or is it time he settled down and found someone to share his life with?  I'm not about to tell you what the answer is.

This is a supremely entertaining and satisfying movie.  Clooney is perfectly charming most of the time but can always turn it and show a vulnerable side when needed.  And he's not afraid to look a bit foolish at times, which just adds to the charm.  When paired with Vera Farmiga, the two have an easy sexual chemistry that makes them very easy to believe in.

This is a fairly deceptive movie because at first glance it would seem like a light hearted romantic comedy about a guy with an odd obsession.  But the movie has some thoughts about loneliness, decency, commitment, loyalty and honesty that give it considerable weight.  I can't recommend it enough.