Well Made, But Just Rather Blah

Rating: 7/10 (12 November 2012)

With a job that has him traveling around the country firing people, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) leads an empty life out of a suitcase, until his company does the unexpected: ground him.
On a technical level, the film is well made. It looks good, the script is decent, and any film with George Clooney has to be at least mostly good. He is one of the great actors of our time. And the "twist" was predictable yet redeeming to such a standard romance. Heck, I even appreciated the political message of what it is like to be unemployed.
But I found the mix of comedy and drama to fail, especially because the drama was so boring compared with the comedy. The balance was off. A few good moments -- with Sam Elliott and Young MC -- did not make up for the lazy romance, Anna Kendrick's atrocious acting, or the awful soundtrack.
I still have to give it a good rating because, heck, it is still a good movie. But so much was unbalanced, and it would probably have worked best as a straight comedy.