Disappointing -- Potential Spoilers

Rating: 5/10 (13 March 2010)

"Up in the Air" is a vastly overrated movie. In spite of the undeniable charms of George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, this tale of a man flying around the country to fire people their bosses are too cowardly to confront in person does not deserve the honors or the admiring adjectives that have been heaped on it. Clooney plays slightly against type, and I presume that was seen as a mighty mark in his favor. But he has done far better in other films and attracted much less praise. Bingham, the rootless 10-11 months a year flier living out of a suitcase, finds a bed mate in another frequent flier, Alex Goran, played by Vera Farmiga. Alex, however, turns out to be quite rooted when Bingham realizes the emptiness of his life and thinks about settling down. The third principal character in this film, Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick, joins the company Bingham works for and comes up with the idea of doing all the firing by teleconference. Although Bingham makes the case that it is much more humane and consoling to do the firing in person and hauls Natalie around the country to prove it,these plot elements don't matter much and the complexities which round out the script matter even less. Ms. Farmiga is a beautiful woman and Anna Kendrick is good looking young woman, but neither of them deserved the best supporting actress awards for which they were nominated. This film is an idea that should have been grounded early. The comedy isn't funny, the romance isn't very romantic and the dramatic parts of the script aren't at all interesting. While this may not be one of the ten worst films of 2009, if belongs on the list of the ten best, then it proves how lean a year it really was.