Extremely Charming

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2010)

Up in the Air (2009)
**** (out of 4)
Wonderfully charming film in the same tradition as many Frank Capra movies has George Clooney playing Ryan Bingham, a man who believes in being by himself as his job takes him across the country the majority of the year where he must fire people. When a new woman (Anna Kendrick) enters the picture with plans of changing the company, Ryan takes her on the road and shows how difficult the job can be and why simply firing someone over the Internet isn't going to work. Ryan also finds himself getting involved with his family for the first time in years and a relationship (Vera Farmiga) that might change his views on life. This film blends comedy and drama unlike too many films I've ever seen. The laughs are never loud ones and the drama is never earth-shattering or something devastating. I must admit that the gentle nature of this film is what really grabbed me and wouldn't let me go as we've seen this type of story before yet the performances here are so fresh and the screenplay so sharp that you'll feel as if you're seeing this stuff for the very first time. Taking a cue from Capra and throwing in current political drama, the film takes a real look at unemployment and the drama behind such events but this is used to just make our three main characters a lot stronger and I thought this back burner story of this really added a lot to the movie and something we wouldn't normally see. The screenplay stays an a neutral tone from start to finish and even though there are funny moments, serious moments and some rather sad moments, the movie keeps everything at the same level and I really found this tone to perfectly fit everything that was going on. It should come as no shock but Clooney delivers another very strong performance as while watching him work it dawned on me that there's not another actor alive that could have played this role and made it work so well. Clooney has a certain laid back charm that perfectly fit this character and you can't help but fall for this charm while watching the film. He works extremely well with the two female actresses and I'd probably say that the romantic side to all of these perhaps gives us some of the best chemistry of any film of the decade. The stern Kendrick perfectly fits her role as she's so naive in some of her thinking that you can't help but like her. Farmiga is really becoming one of the best actresses to watch in today's cinema and she once again delivers a very memorable performance. The sexual chemistry between her and Clooney is quite erotic and the charm they give off really makes the film something special. We also have Jason Bateman in a nice supporting role as well as Sam Elliott in a brief part. This type of film isn't easy to pull off by director Reitman handles it all extremely well and makes something pretty special. Even though the movie was pushed as a Hollywood film, it's certainly far from that as there are certainly a few twists and turns that you wouldn't expect.