Likable bastards galore

Rating: Null/10 (12 April 2010)

The four main characters in "Up In The Air" are all bastards. George Clooney's job is to fire people. He works for a firm run by Jason Bateman. The firm is hired by companies who don't have the guts to fire their own employees. Anna Kendrick is a new employee who comes up with a new method of doing the firing which is even more heartless than the way the company has been doing it. Vera Farmiga is a woman Clooney meets in a hotel bar while on the road.
Clooney is likable as the heartless bastard who has no family, no real permanent address and whose goal is to reach a multi-million mile travel mark with the airlines and the rewards that it brings.
Jason Bateman is the likable bastard who runs the firm.
Anna Kendrick is the cute, perky, likable,heartless bastard whose new idea is even more cruel than the firm's original way of working.
The movie is entirely watchable and makes its point. But it is definitely without much substance. You enjoy it while watching it but when it's over there's nothing to think about. In most ways it makes being a heartless bastard look like a viable career choice. After all, it is Clooney who has a good paying job and the firm he works for certainly looks prosperous. Whose side is this film really on? It appears to be a message movie with the obvious message that corporations are so heartless they can't even fire their own people and have to hire some lackey to do it. But it portrays Clooney's life as actually kind of cool. He never has to pay for anything out of pocket, he has a gazillion company credit cards, he doesn't have to wait in long lines at the airport like the rest of us, and he meets sexy women like Vera Farminga along the way.
I'll take Clooney's job.