Copy & Paste
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Star brings substance to role of frequent flier who dismisses workers. Other actors also shine
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Thursday, Dec 17, 2009
I do not know how Up in the Air will look to audiences 10 or 20 years from now. But in this time, in this country, it is a nearly perfect film at capturing the fear, frustration and emotional need in people trying to get through these bleak years.
And it manages to be funny while doing it.
Based on the novel by Akron native Walter Kirn, Up in the Air focuses on Ryan Bingham (played very well by George Clooney), a man who travels to downsizing companies and does their firing for them. Ryan knows that it is a cold-blooded job, and when to keep things businesslike. But he also understands that sometimes the people getting fired need something approximating comfort, and he is able when necessary to project a measure of compassion.
Such compassion is not a major part of Ryan's private life, where he lives — to borrow a line from Warren Zevon — in splendid isolation. He spends most of his time on airplanes and in hotel rooms. His home is Spartan. He has no friends and is not close with his family. He is devoted instead to perfect packing, the art of getting through airport checkpoints (and veteran travelers will envy and admire his skills), to the use of frequent-flier cards and knowing the right place to stay in any city.
In the script (adapted from Kirn's book mainly by Jason Reitman) and direction (also by Reitman), it is important that we do not sense that Ryan is unhappy with his lot. In fact, he is perfectly content. But he is also emotionally closed — a contrast to the people whose emotions pour out when he brings them bad news.
But Ryan's sealed self gets bumped from two directions in the course of the movie. He feels a connection with another veteran traveler (Vera Farmiga), and that connection steadily moves beyond the occasional hotel bump-and-run and discussions of rental-car companies. At the same time, his professional life is under siege when a young co-worker (Anna Kendrick) proposes that Ryan's company begin firing people by teleconference, so people like Ryan never have to leave the office.
The latter action prompts Ryan to take his co-worker on the road to demonstrate the need for the personal touch. The former finds Ryan more and more personally touched himself, and questioning life on the road even as he fights to maintain it.
I am probably making this all sound more heavily dramatic than it is onscreen, although the movie has its dramatic moments, especially in the later portions. But Reitman demonstrated with Juno his ability to bring a light touch even to very serious moments, and he does so again here. In addition, Clooney has taken one of his recurring roles — that of the very cool guy with a conscience — and given it a depth we have not always seen. The changes in Ryan are subtle but clear through Clooney's careful modulation of his expression.
Farmiga is an able match for him, and Kendrick — known mainly for the Twilight movies — gives a delightful, and occasionally dominating, performance. She knows when to be chilly, and when to open up, with the latter impulse providing one of the funniest moments in the film.
The buzz for Up in the Air has been building steadily, but it still seems to have taken the studio by surprise. (The strategy for when to put it in most theaters, for example, has been a shifting thing, with Northeast Ohio opening dates changed several times. It is now set for at least two regional theaters. including the Cinemark Valley View, on Friday, and more in a week.)
But the movie does that, too. Yes, it has its predictable moments, and there are a couple of turns late in the film where the audience will be way ahead of the characters. Still, in a sly and seemingly offhanded way, it charms you, and in its consideration of the disconnected life and an economy where firing people is a good job, it speaks to our times in a way larger, more escapist fare does not. I liked this movie a great deal and look forward to seeing it again.
