lost decade

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2010)

Jason Reitman ("Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman's son) made his directorial debut two years ago with the satirical comedy "Thank You for Smoking", about a tobacco industry spin doctor. Reitman focuses on similar subject matter in "Up in the Air", including similar dialog. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, who has the job of going around the country firing people when their bosses don't have the guts to do it to their faces. Spending most of his time in airplanes, Ryan has no family, and his apartment is the most pathetic place that you ever saw. But Ryan has a surprise waiting for him.
The tanking economy and massive job losses in the past few years make this film all the more relevant. Many of the "firees" are people who actually got fired from jobs responding as they would to the person firing them. While feeling disgusted at what Ryan does, I couldn't help but admire his gumption (or is it his lack of ethics?).
This movie and "Thank You for Smoking" (I haven't seen "Juno") have shown Jason Reitman to be a very good director. It certainly deserves its Oscar nominations, although I haven't decided for certain which movie I want to win. But either way, I wholeheartedly recommend "Up in the Air". It's the perfect look at what our society has become.
Also starring Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey (of "Heavenly Creatures" and "The Informant!"), J.K. Simmons (of the Spider-Man movies and "Thank You for Smoking") and Sam Elliott.