My Review: Up in the Air (8/10)

¨Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.¨

(8/10) That quote is just one of the many funny lines that Up in the Air has to offer. This comedy was directed by Jason Reitman who seems to be turning everything he touches into gold ever since he directed critically acclaimed movies such as Thank You for Smoking and Juno. I was a huge fan of those films, especially Juno. Up in the Air may not be as good as that movie, but it still is a very funny and smart film. Juno perhaps was a little more upbeat and sort of a feel good movie, while Up in the Air has a sort of depressing air to it. I would say it is a little darker, but what this movie has going for it is that it is probably the most accurate one when considering the crisis we are going through in our society today. Most films depict a certain time period in the past and they do it extremely well, but with Up in the Air, Reitman depicts the present in such a way that it will be difficult for future movies to give a more realistic version of what our society is going through today. I think future generations will take this movie into consideration when trying to understand what happened in America during the financial crisis. Up in the Air might be a dark and difficult subject matter for many people, but the director does a great job of mixing this real life drama with comedy through the lives of a couple of characters in this film. I really enjoyed this movie and recommend it for everyone.

The main character of this film is played brilliantly by George Clooney (who will probably get another nomination for best actor for this movie). He plays Ryan Bingham, a man who spends most of his life on planes traveling from one city to another because his job requires him to do so. Ryan is very content with his job and he is very good at it as well; his mottos are ¨the slower we move the faster we die¨ and ¨moving is living.¨ He is a man that travels light and doesn`t have time for commitments or relationships. His job is a very questionable one although he doesn`t seem to mind it one bit; he fires people he doesn`t even know because the company they work for don`t have the balls to do it themselves. Ryan also gives several business conferences around the country, but his life is about to change when the company he works for wants to ground him in Omaha. This is where Natalie Keener (played by Anna Kendrick, known for her small role in the Twilight saga) comes to play. She has introduced a new program in which each agent can contact the employee through a video conference online and fire them without having to travel; this would reduce significantly the company´s expenses. Ryan doesn´t like the idea one bit and they discuss things with their boss, Craig Gregory (played by the always funny Jason Bateman). He decides to make Natalie and Ryan travel together for a few more months so she can get a hang of things. Ryan lives a simple and uncomplicated life and he has an affair with a female version of him, Alex Goran (played by Vera Farmiga from The Departed and The Orphan) and the movie focuses mainly on these three characters.

As I said before, George Clooney does a great job carrying this movie. He plays the lead role and I would argue that his character has some similarities to him in real life. Clooney is who makes the character likeable despite his questionable profession and the audience sympathizes with him. This probably couldn`t have been done with many other actors. He also has a great script to work with just as Ellen Page did in Juno and they were the main reason both these movies were so successful. Clooney was not alone in this film; he also had great support from Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and I wouldn`t be surprised if they receive Oscar nominations as well. Farmiga was very likeable and Kendrick was probably the funniest in the movie. I didn`t know she could be so funny; she was great in every scene she was in. Up in the Air is definitely worth watching although it doesn`t have the typical upbeat ending like Juno did (and that may put some audiences off), but I really enjoyed it and think it fit this movie perfectly. This movie will be remembered when future generations want to be reminded what the current crisis looked like.