'Up in the Air' soars among the year's best
The moment you meet Ryan Bingham, you just know it: He's the master of his universe.
Bingham flies around the country and fires all the employees that company bosses don't want to deal with themselves. Business is good.
He clocks 350,000 air miles a year. He belongs to all the exclusive, most elite travel clubs. He has packing quick and tight down to a habitual science, and he wields his coveted gold and super platinum credit cards with the grace and power of a Jedi knight armed with a light saber.
He also conducts seminars on preparing backpacks in which he equates possessions and people to dead weight that slows you down.
"Moving is living!" he proclaims.
"Up in the Air" is the slick and engaging story of this man, who flies above the fray of emotional attachments and the messiness of relationships. This noncommital, avowed bachelor is so close to the dashing actor who plays him, avowed bachelor George Clooney, that Ryan Bingham is easily the Clooniest character ever to grace the silver screen.
Director/writer Jason Reitman - who gave us the superior comedies "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno" - has created (based on Walter Kirn's novel) a funny, sexy, exceptionally romantic film oozing with post-financial-meltdown Zeitgeist that gives "Up in the Air" both a timely and timeless appeal.
It's not only a classic story about a free man who won't be caged, but a smart and insightful look at the generational conflict between a seasoned pro and a young, inexperienced company up-and-comer.
Bingham is the best at what he does. In a series of quick shots, we see employees' reactions to the news they've been downsized. They range from sheer disbelief to sheer rage. (They reportedly are nonactors who were really laid off.)
Bingham astutely deals with all of them. He relishes his job and thinks of airports as his real home, not the Spartan apartment he keeps in Omaha.
His happy world threatens to come to an end when his merciless, head-chopping boss Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman) hires a young gun with a great plan to cut company costs, like Bingham's travel budget.
Fresh-faced Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) wants to implement an online system to fire employees by face-to-interface computer, thereby eliminating the need for dinosaurs who do things the old-fashioned, expensive way, like Bingham.
The experienced exec retaliates by almost destroying Natalie in a mock firing session that reveals her weak understanding of human reactions.
So, Gregory comes up with a grand compromise: Bingham will take the whippersnapper with him to observe how a professional does the job properly. (Bingham displays his mastery in a superbly wrought segment where he convinces J.K. Simmons' Bob that his unexpected layoff is a blessing for his family.)
Then, Bingham appears to meet his match in a kindred spirit named Alex Goran, (played by a luminous Vera Farmiga). A fellow traveler and worshipper of elite status, Alex wants what Bingham wants in a relationship, and doesn't want the same things he doesn't want, too.
Clooney and Farmiga are so kinetically connected in this movie that you almost see and hear sparks go off when they come together. They're not just sexy, but lots of fun, especially while exchanging really suggestive dialogue.
We may think we know where the story is leading us, especially after Bingham's estranged older sister (Amy Morton) begs him to help Jim (Danny McBride) lose his cold feet on the day of his wedding to Bingham's younger sister (Melanie Lynskey).
Forced to lay out a great case for marriage to Jim, will Bingham see the wisdom of his own words?
"Up in the Air" glides along on Reitman's light and purposeful touch, and it sails over clichés with such winning performances that it's a strong contender for the best movie of 2009.
"Up in the Air"
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Other: A Paramount Pictures release. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations. 109 minutes