It feels a bit like media hype has taken what is a good film from director Jason Reitman (Thank your for Smoking, Juno) and turned it into a great one. Looking at the 6 Golden Globe nominations certainly gives the impression that this will be one of the best films you’ll see in 2010. Up in the Air is funny and emotive, cleverly playing with the movie formula we know so well - RomCom. An enjoyable cinema experience, the film ultimately falls in the gap between good and filmic brilliance.
Starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, whose job it is to travel America firing people. Ryan is a man who delights in frequent flyer programs and complete isolation from familial ties (in fact just about any land based ties). His highly-controlled existence is brought into question when he meets two very different women; Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick, Twilight, New Moon) is a bright young thing who works for the same company as Ryan and wants to revolutionise their business practices, and Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Orphan) a beautiful, successful businesswoman who appears to be a mirror image of Ryan, just with more humanity.
Taking the topical issue of company restructures and redundancies, Reitman has gone a step further into America’s economic recession and hired people who had recently lost their jobs to play some of the film’s firees. How, as an audience member, you could know some of the extras were chosen for their real-life understanding of being made redundant had you not been told, and if it makes a difference to the film experience, is questionable - but it sure does make a good story.
Read the full review at Trespass
