'Up in the Air' Captures America

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2010)

Up in the Air is a throwback of sorts to the classic Hollywood films of yesteryear. The dynamic banter between Ryan and Alex is reminiscent of classics like It Happened One Night. And of course like the old Hollywood pictures Up in the Air is a star vehicle led by the last real movie star in George Clooney.
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) spends 95% of his life sucking recycled oxygen 10,000 feet above the ground surrounded, yet entirely alone. He is a corporate assassin leased out to cowards that cannot let go of their own employees. Ryan's life is in a suspended state of animation much like all of the travelers stuck in airports this past week. That is until he meets his equivalent in Alex (Vera Farmiga) they recognize they're essentially the same souls almost instantly with Alex even teasing him with, "think of yourself, with a vagina." Ryan Bingham is an oddity in film. He is only at home swiping cards, earning mileage points, and avoiding his one bedroom apartment in Omaha. All of his connections are only surface deep and he seems better off for it. He knows what he has and appreciates the freeness from baggage.
Jason Reitman's latest effort feels like a spiritual sequel to Thank You for Smoking with both films being reflective satires on the present state of America. In 2005 Smoking focused on advertising and spin-control, at that point a burgeoning evil quickly becoming acceptable to America. Up in the Air turns it gaze to Natalie (the charming Anna Kendrick, who debuts incredibly in her non-Twilight career), a newly attached sidekick to Ryan by his douche boss Craig (Jason Bateman), and her revolutionary web-chat firing system that allows you to fire someone at will without the mess of dealing with them afterward.
A funny, yet serious look at the way corporations justify immoral behavior and then apply their rationalizations with sub-par logic. But more importantly the effects and culture of a recession. Bingham is not the one to be sympathized with, we are.