Good Movie...But Not Without Flaws

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2010)

**Major Spoilers** For about two thirds of Up In The Air, I was thinking to myself, "this is definitely going to be on my top five list for the year." The acting is very good. The characters were strong and likable. The dialogue was sharp and witty. There seemed to be the right mixture of both comedy and drama. It felt like a movie that was going somewhere great. Then came the rest of the story. Don't get me wrong. I've seen some films before that were ruined by bad endings. Up In The Air does not fall into that category. In fact, I wouldn't even call the ending bad. It was just not as well done as the rest of the movie. It felt hurried and predictable. I honestly don't think any of the events that occurred at the end of the film were a surprise to anyone watching (including the "major" revelation about Vera Farmiga's character). And a few of the scenes felt like they were slipped in out of obligation (i.e. the scene where Clooney's character calls the airline to set up a trip for his sister and her husband, or when we find out that Anna Kendrick's character quit because of the suicide). However, even with all of that, I still liked it. There was still so much that was good about this movie, that it might not be on my top five list for the year, but it is definitely on my top ten.