Up in the Air (2009)
“All the things you probably hate about travelling – the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi – are warm reminders that I’m home. – Ryan Bingham.
Up in the Air (2009)
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Jason Reitman (screenplay), Walter Kirn (novel)
Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga
This was probably the fifth time I’ve watched Up in the Air. Why? Firstly, it’s got George Clooney (probably my second favourite actor). Secondly, it’s just a super easy watch for such a well-made film. Even though it was nominated for an impressive six Academy Awards, the movie isn’t bogged down with any pretentious subscript. Instead, it’s a funny, straightforward story carried by three fantastic performances. Simply put, you can chuck it on for under 2 hours, hang out with some entertaining characters, then go about your day. Perfect!
George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a corporate ‘downsizer’ who specialises in travelling across America and firing people. Bingham enjoys living on the road, spending “322 days a year” bouncing from airport to airport with no meaningful human connection. Therefore when recent graduate Natalie (Kendrick) convinces Bingham’s company to transition to online firings, he worries that his nomadic lifestyle might become extinct. As a compromise, Bingham’s boss Craig (Bateman) forces him to take Natalie on the road to trial the new system. As the two travel the country, Bingham meets and begins to fall for fellow corporate traveller Alex (Farmiga).
Up in the Air manages to walk the fine line between comedy and tragedy perfectly, with the charismatic performances of Clooney, Kendrick and Farmiga once again emphasising the simple formula of good casting + good script = good movie. Reitman’s greatest triumph here is splitting the movie into two very distinct story arcs; one about a workaholic flying around America firing people and battling with the upstart youth (embodied by Natalie), and the other about a commitment-phobe finally wrestling with the concept that true love could be real after all (embodied by Alex).
Ryan’s morally defunct views on love, friendship and permanency are skimmed over as a sort of Existentialism-For-Dummies. That is, the film occasionally dives into serious subject matter, but anytime things start to look too dire Reitman turns the plane around and diverts the audience into the safe haven of comedy or romance. This safety blanket makes the film incredibly easy to watch – whilst the filmmakers do force us to ponder the finer points of our day-to-day lives, any concerns are quickly washed away with a Kendrick quip or a Clooney smile.
It definitely helps that the cast is STACKED for this film. All three leads were nominated for an Oscar (which is pretty incredible, really), but it’s the firepower Reitman brings off the bench in tiny support roles that packs a punch. Jason Bateman, JK Simmons, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis, Sam Elliott – those are some serious names playing five-minute-parts in a big movie. Everyone’s great, with a fantastic mix of comedic and dramatic actors to carry the quirky script.
This has been quite a short review for a movie I’m very fond of, but to finish with one piece of advice: just watch it. It’s a great film, with three fantastic lead performances and a cruisy, rewatchable story. If you want some drama but don’t want to put yourself through the trauma of something like Schindler’s List, chuck this on.
Rating: 7.5/10
Casting what-ifs:
Reitman was quick to claim that he wrote the parts specifically for all of the actors who were cast, doubling down on the “they were the only choice” narrative. However this was quickly shot down by the actors in the movie, who knew for a fact there were others they were auditioning against.
The most prominent name on this list was Elliott Page, who had just starred in Reitman’s previous film Juno, for the role Kendrick eventually won.
Reitman also admitted that he had courted Steve Martin for the Bingham role, in case Clooney had turned it down.
Termination interviews:
The film features a montage of people getting fired by Ryan. These are all real people. Reitman put an ad in the paper asking if people who had recently lost their job wanted to be in a ‘documentary’ about job loss. They were instructed to respond to the fake firing “either the way they did the day they lost their job, or how they wished they had responded.”