A Really Good Flick With One Serious Flaw

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2010)

01-08-10 "Up in the Air" is a thoughtful and satisfying entertainment. I'm a big fan of the team of creative artists who made it happen. It's an amazing work of art from auteur, Jason Reitman. All the more impressive is the fact that he's only thirty-two. All of these kudos notwithstanding, I want to briefly address the character of Alex because therein lies a serious flaw. I'm not confirmed in my opinion, however, so I want to put it out here for possible contradiction.
Early in the second act, Alex (Vera Farmiga) starts showing palpable signs of falling in love with Ryan (George Clooney): her eyes, facial expressions and energy feel to me like a woman not only falling in love, but also a woman actively (although not verbally) seeking a deeper emotional bond and commitment. This culminates in the conversation with Natalie (Anna Kendrick), when Alex talks about the importance of marriage, children and home.
After Ryan and Alex attend his sister Julie's (Melanie Lynskey) wedding, Ryan is seeing clearly the emptiness of his jet-setting life and then, suddenly, he stops mid-sentence during one of his lectures and rushes to Chicago to see Alex; I think there's a marriage proposal balancing on the tip of his tongue.
Was Ryan primed for this change of attitude by recent events? Yes. Were the looks, expressions, energies and statements of Alex an important part of this priming? Yes.
When the big reveal happens, and Alex is uncovered as a committed wife and mother who only wants side-action with Ryan, I thought to myself, as the writer and director, Jason Reitman has exaggerated and simplified the transparency of Alex's feelings for Ryan in order to insure that the big reveal plays as a reversal that packs a wallop. This wallop, I think, comes at the expense of the psychological realism and moral validity of Alex.
Please consider an alternate second act in which the character of Alex is a bit more complicated: If Alex is morally and emotionally sound, and I think the movie wants us to feel that, for the most part, she is, then I don't think she would actively solicit a deepening emotional commitment with Alex without informing him that she's unavailable for marriage. A failure to do so is the self-centered, unscrupulous behavior of a rat. Likewise, denying this moral responsibility with a reference to Ryan's commitment to bachelorhood is a flimsy rationalization. It's entirely possible that Alex finds the force of her emotions such that she cannot help moving towards a deepening of emotional feeling for Ryan. However, as a decent person, I think she would have a deep internal conflict with this emotional trend. Of course this internal conflict and holding back by Alex would be detected by Ryan. Quite possibly, Alex would reach the apex of her internal conflict during the wedding, when she sees Ryan turning away from his confirmed bachelorhood towards a union with her. In turn, Ryan might interpret this behavior as a conflict about Alex's desire to maintain her single lifestyle. From here, the movie might show how Ryan, after the influence of his sister's wedding, flip-flops and becomes the person pursuing marriage while the woman resists. The through-line of cavalier good will and humor would be easily maintained by Ryan because he thinks he knows why Alex is resisting and then - Blam! - Ryan goes to Chicago on impulse and discovers the truth.
With this version, the reveal still packs a wallop, Alex remains a somewhat decent person, the psychology of her behavior remains valid and there's no telltale intrusion by the writer-director.