Film Review : Up In The Air

Jason Reitman has made quite a name for himself with his first two films as director, Thank You For Smoking and Juno. Whilst he's worked with actors of some substance, he's now moved into the big time with this movie which boasts George Clooney in the lead part.

Clooney's character plays Ryan Bingham who works for a company who are hired to pass on the unwanted news to people that they are being made redundant. As such, he's pretty much perpetually on the move and as a man with absolutely no commitment genes he's able to live a life to his total satisfaction almost perpetually on the road and utterly in control.

His world is shaken as his company employ a bright, young thing called Natalie Keener played by Anna Kendrick who convinces the management that this type of thing would best be done remotely with the consultants stuck in the office and carrying out their interviews over a web connection. Needless to say this does not go down well with Bingham but, as the company's top man, he is asked to show Natalie the ropes of the business.

At the same time, Bingham has made an acquaintance of Alex (played by Vera Farmiga) who seems to share a similar commitment-free lifestyle and engage in a relationship which seems ideally suited to their preferences.

Needless to say, this confluence of circumstance develops as you might expect with Bingham discovering that he's not as commitment free as he thought, and the halt to his travelling lifestyle also means that he makes a connection to his family which has until now largely ignored.

Whilst reasonably gentle in tone, this still has a decent kick to it. Clooney and Farmiga have real on-screen chemistry, and Natalie Keener is excellent as the smart cookie who has to learn some tough lessons along the way. Although it sounds very much like the proverbial chick-flick there is much more to it than that.

Clooney has been one of the early front-runners for Oscar glory but, whilst he is good, I'm not convinced that he's doing enough here to make him rise to the top of that particular pile. In any event, after the first couple of rounds of awards, it's beginning to look like the cognoscenti have decided that it's Jeff Bridge's turn. The Dude deserves it too!

Bingham ends the film living life as he has become accustomed, except that some things will never quite be the same again.