Movie Review: Up In the Air

If you read Up In the Air, the novel by Walter Kirn, you will have a hard time recognizing the storyline in the movie. They have kept the main character, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a corporate axeman for hire, but that's about it. It turns out to be a good thing. Jason Reitman, the screenwriter and director, in a stroke of genius, added two female characters bringing more interest and more heart to this very clever and timely film. Reitman's previous movies, Juno and Thank You For Smoking are both terrific but clearly more about the comedy and less about the drama. Up in the Air incorporates both creating a richer product. The message regarding long held beliefs about happiness and what is important in life are skillfully worked into scenes as naturally as when you and I are having lunch (or a cocktail), sharing heartbreaks, life lessons and insights. By doing this, the movie, unlike the book, has interest not only in the air but on the ground. Up in the Air is the story of a man who relishes in his whittled down lifestyle. He spends most of his life flying all over the country doing the dirty work that company heads can't bring themselves to do: fire employees. The euphemism used for his job, "career-transition counselor". Brilliant. He has no attachments and spends time lecturing on the benefit of traveling, literally and figuratively, with no more then what you can fit in your carry-on luggage. Clooney is as perfect in this role as he was in Michael Clayton. He is newly leaned down and plays a very well oiled machine. Vera Farmiga (Orphan, The Departed, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) plays Alex, Ryan's love interest and even colder, female counterpart. The nice little surprise; Anna Kendrick (Twilight), flexing her acting chops, plays Natalie, the new kid on the block who gives Ryan a taste of his own medicine. With her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, she steals every scene she is in. Jason Bateman, always underrated, is wonderfully slippery as Ryan's unscrupulous boss. Sam Elliot has a cameo at the end of the movie teaching all of us about star power. If the interviews at the beginning and end of the movie of people getting fired seem very real to you, it's because many of them are. What's real is real and we can feel it. Along with great screenwriting and perfect casting, this very smart bit of moviemaking kicks the film up a notch. Even though the movie has little resemblance to the novel, we know it has Kirn's complete endorsement; he has a part as one of Ryan's colleagues. Kirn has written 7 books. This is the second to make it the big screen. The first was Thumbsucker (Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn). Why am I telling you this? Because I feel I have to offer you something more and a little different then other reviewers because I'm always late. I try to make up for it with trivia! With all the aerial cinematography and shots of big airplanes, it needs a movie theater. This is an interesting and finely crafted movie with a great ending (always challenging) that will hit home for plenty of people.