Flying High

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2010)

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) plays the part of Corporate Killer immortalized by Norm Peterson (George Wendt) over two decades ago in an episode of Taxi and more recently reprised in an episode of animated series King of the Hill. He is a downsizing specialist. Exactly what is that? A downsizing specialist is one who fires people when the company decides to shed jobs. The bosses are too haughty to admit their own failure and too timid to confront the employees with the bad news. Ryan explains that all he does is get the redundant employee to leave the building peacefully. "There's an art to what I do; and it works because of the way it's done," Ryan tells his boss as the boss is planning to go into the 21st century and fire people by the internet. The costs of sending 21 Termination Specialists into the air has become too high.
There may be an art to Ryan's manner of terminating employees but there is also a philosophy behind it: This is pitched in Ryan's motivational speeches, "What's in your backpack" where Ryan preaches that the audience is carrying the weight of too many personal relationships around.
Yet Ryan exudes charm and finesse when he is about his trade. He compares it to a hotel industry term "foamy" a cross between "faux" or "false" and "homey." At his home base, a studio apartment,Ryan has little weighing him down. There's nothing in the closet. The frig is empty except for some "alky bottles" stolen off air craft. Ryan tells you his life is up there in the clouds.
Enter Alex Goren (Vera Farmiga). She hooks up with Ryan on one of his flights. She tells Ryan she is his perfect match, in rather raunchy terms.
Ryan is now on his last round of flights before the company grounds him and has him fire people from a computer terminal. He brings along Natale Kenner (Anna Kendrick), the young whiz kid who has proposed mechanisation of the firing process. Her industry term is "Glocal," a cross between "Global" and "Local." Nationwide firings can proceed apace from a computer terminal in Omaha.
Yet Ryan is give one last fling into the air. Natale will accompany Ryan to see the devastation first hand. En route Natale and Ryan meet up with Alex. Natale upbraids Ryan that he's throwing away a chance for a decent relationship.
What will Ryan do? Will there be a Hollywood ending.
This is a movie for our times, though downsizing was a pattern set in motion by the Bush Regime.