An Unexpectedly Moving Dramedy

Rating: 8/10 (18 August 2017)

I wasn't expecting Up in the Air's last fifteen minutes to hit me like they did. But writer-director Jason Reitman's film packs a punch. The film follows Ryan Bingham, a corporate "downsizer" who spends the majority of his time traveling from city to city. Contrary to what one might think, Bingham enjoys the constant traveling. His Omaha apartment is bare and the 43 days that he had to spend there the year prior are described as "miserable." One night in Dallas, he meets Alex Goran, a traveling businesswoman, and the two immediately hit it off due to their similar lifestyles. George Clooney is in top form as the cynical Bingham, whose career has insulated him from human contact. His chemistry with Alex is palpable, exemplified by the twinkle in their eyes when they look at each other for the first time to the way that they interact when Bingham gives her a tour of his old high school.
Reitman's writing establishes the connection between these characters but Clooney and Vera Farmiga bring it to life. Farmiga herself delivers a performance that rivals Clooney's, magnificently capturing the sensuality and tenacity required to make her character work. And as a recent Cornell grad named Natalie Keener who has big plans for the future of the company that Bingham works for, Anna Kendrick delivers her best work to date. Keener accompanies Bingham on his travels in order to learn about the difficulties that he faces in telling workers that the company that they are working for has decided to unemploy them. In the process, Kendrick captures Keener's naivety remarkably, and we watch her wide-eyed enthusiasm fade away because of the draining task at hand.
Reitman succeeds brilliantly at transporting the audience right back to the late-2000s, bringing memories of the economic downturn back to the forefront. In a stroke of genius, Reitman interviewed dozens of recently laid-off workers and included segments of these interviews in the film. While they don't take up too much time, they do touch on the bitter realities of unemployment and the recession. However, the film is primarily a character study focused on Bingham, with existential undertones and moments of genuine hilarity. Because of his relationship with Alex (and to a lesser degree, his relationship with Keener), Bingham begins to let his cynical exterior fade away and falls in love, despite his aversion to marriage and lack of human connection. I suspect that it's this subtle shift in character that Reitman and Clooney so expertly portray that allowed for the last fifteen minutes of the film to land with such a brute emotional impact.
Up in the Air proved a more difficult watch than I was expecting. Not because it requires superior intellect to decode its jokes or anything of the like, but because it's deviously complex. The relationships between our three leads are one thing, but Reitman's willingness to comment on mass unemployment and human connection, all with an existential touch, is something else entirely. And all the way up to its unexpectedly moving (and somewhat devastating) conclusion, the film manages to delight and entertain.
Rating: 8/10 (Great)