Early Up In The Air Review
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Danny McBride, J.K. Simmons
Release Date: 25 December 2009 (US), 15 January 2010 (UK)

Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air is smart, funny, smart with its funny, and poignant. George Clooney plays Ryan, a corporate downsizer, a man who fires people for a living so that their bosses don’t have to. His job takes him all across America, flying from place to place to give people bad news – and he has it down to a fine art. In fact, Ryan has his whole life down to a fine art, which is easier than it sounds because his whole life is his job. His apartment is bare (he lives in hotels anyway) and his family is kept at a distance, he has a methodical and efficient way of moving through an airport, and his life’s ambition is to reach a certain number of air miles. Occasionally he’ll give motivational speeches, encouraging fellow executives to live the way he does, without attachments. Naturally, Clooney oozes confidence as Ryan, and when his whole world is turned upside down it’s interesting to see Clooney expertly portray a character presenting an unflappable façade.

The thing that threatens to ruin Ryan’s perfect life is a new employee at his company, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), whose idea to save the company money by firing people via video conferencing over the internet instead of sending people to their workplace is being put into action. Ryan is violently opposed to Natalie’s idea but, because he’s the best there is at what he does, his boss pairs them up so that he can show Natalie the ropes. From here Up In The Air is a great combination of road movie, buddy comedy and romantic comedy, although the romance is not with Natalie (who wouldn’t see Ryan in that way because ‘He’s old’) but with Vera Farmiga’s Alex, who is basically a female version of Ryan himself. The film explores the relationships of these characters excellently, and there is never a dull moment. There are montages of people getting fired that actually use real people, who were told they were re-enacting being let go for a documentary, and there are memorable turns from Jason Bateman as Ryan’s boss and Danny McBride as his brother-in-law to be.

Reitman’s movie is a superlative character study, one about a man’s self-imposed isolation and his obliviousness to its detrimental effect on his life. The film progresses from an idealised view of a carefree existence to a different view entirely, whilst remaining genuinely funny throughout.

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Our Grade: A

Leave your own Up In The Air review in the comments.