The story of a man ready to make a connection.

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2010)

Ryan Bingham's job is to fire people from theirs. The anguish, hostility, and despair of his "clients" has left him falsely compassionate, living out of a suitcase, and loving every second of it. When his boss hires arrogant young Natalie, she develops a method of video conferencing that will allow termination without ever leaving the office - essentially threatening the existence Ryan so cherishes. Determined to show the naive girl the error of her logic, Ryan takes her on one of his cross country firing expeditions, but as she starts to realize the disheartening realities of her profession, he begins to see the downfalls to his way of life.
UP IN THE AIR is a realistic outlook on life, something we don't see in films very often, and I'm not saying this because the film is about the firing of workers due to the downturn of the economy. However, that certain aspect does make the film very relevant to these days than if the film were to be released a few years prior. And ultimately, this realism that runs throughout the film is what makes it so good.
I would only assume the film will get nominated for however many Oscars because it deserves so many but one I'm certain it'll get nominated for is the Best Adapted Screenplay category. I usually never talk about screenplays in my reviews much because films I watch usually have a sufficient screenplay, which is nothing to scream about. However, UP IN THE AIR is a well written screenplay, filled with some great dialogue and not the ones you've heard from JUNO. This is what I call a good screenplay.
And there is nobody better than to say those lines from the screenplay other than George Clooney himself, who is slowly growing to be one of the more well respected actors out there because of the certain great films he chooses to star in. Clooney is very good in this film and I stress the words "very" and "good." Not only is he charismatic and funny like we usually see him in many of his films, but he branches out his performance in scenes with isolation and sadness. Here, Vera Farmiga plays an entirely different character than she did with her role in another film that was released in the same year, ORPHAN, but she is just as good or even better maybe getting her nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Anna Kendrick starred in last year's highly successful NEW MOON but it's apparent that she'll most likely be remembered for her role in this film. Here, she plays the naive but successful young graduate but plays it off really well that makes one think, "Why is she even spending her time in the Twilight movies?" Even other actors who spend probably one or two scenes in the entire film altogether, including Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Danny McBride, and Zach Galifianakis, pull off some very good performances.
UP IN THE AIR is not a comedy. It is, at times, dark, although there are many scenes of great humor that balances the film quite nicely. But overall, it's authentic in the way the film observes a man's lonely and isolated life who fires people for a living. I must give credit to director Jason Reitman because he is still strong after three films. Who knows what he'll do next. Funny, dark, witty, and poignant, UP IN THE AIR is one of the best films of 2009.