Up In The Air [Review]

I saw this film in between lectures at university, and I think that is the perfect way to see this film. Like Clooney’s last film, “The Men Who Stare At Goats”, it isn’t a film that will blow you away, and for me to go out at night, with friends, and pay peak-rate prices for the tickets, I find that a little annoying. That said, “Up In The Air” brags a delicacy that Goats can only aspire to have.


The theme of this film cuts close to the skin for some. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who is hired by companies across America to travel around the country and fire employees that they don’t have the courage to fire themselves. Surely a pressing issue in today’s credit crunch (might be a bit out-of-date considering the 0.001% increase in the ecomony, WE’RE IN THE CLEAR PEOPLE!).

Clooney leads the cast gracefully in this story of one man’s self-alienation. Finding comfort in what we consider simple and/or vain (such as the bragging of elite status membership cards and a ridiculous amount of air miles), Clooney plays an absolutely believable douche, but one with such suave you will want to be him. He is the cement that holds the film together with the perfect delivery of lines, crossing off soundbites like a shopping list, and that certain spark that other actors seem to lack.

The rest of the cast falls gently into place, with the two female supporting actors, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick playing Alex and Natalie respectively, performing convincingly the well-rounded characters that this expert script has dealt to them. Alex, for example, is a young business woman who appears strong and innovative and therefore threatening to Ryan Bingham as she seeks to change his world. We soon discover, however, that she is in fact a naive, and unfortunate, girl in an unwanted position. Natalie on the other hand is everything but naive, and instead appears Ryan’s equal – and I won’t go further into that because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

The word here is “charm”; as if anything associated with George Clooney can be anything but. Definitely a film I would recommend, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a must see. Probably an ideal DVD for most, a bit too mushy and polite for others, and a smile-inducing beauty for people like me. I loved it.