Intelligent and engrossing

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2012)

With a sharp script and good performances, Up in the Air is an unusually thoughtful movie driven by character rather than plot. Clooney plays the role of a man whose enjoys life in what to me would be an exhausting limbo, a life of constant travel from city to city. His life is disrupted when changes in his company, represented by a young go-getter, threaten to ruin his carefully constructed way of life, and the movie is primarily concerned with how this makes him ponder that life.
But the movie avoids going to predictable places or offering pat answers. Yes, most of us wouldn't like his life, but the movie really shows that all lives are fraught with disappointment.
I was a little bothered by how casual the movie is about Clooney's job. I mean, it's an awful thing to do, and I can't help but feel that the people who would actually do such a job are probably awful people. Clooney comes across as basically a nice guy, but if he were really a nice guy he would feel bad about what he does. And while you could argue that Clooney's character is simply someone who avoids introspection and refuses to think about the ramifications of what he does, he comes across as too smart for that to be true.
While I didn't love this movie the way some people did, I thought it was very good.