George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air. While the movie changes some agonizing subjects into intelligent and artful comedy, it made sure to leave just a little bit of the pain in it for added weight. Bingham spends most of his days travelling around the country with one purpose: to fire people. As unusual as it is, he works for a wide array of bosses who lack the courage to lay-off their employees themselves. A man of no attachments, his constant life in flights suits him well. His isolated world would soon be threatened by two things: first, the company he works for resorted to the technology of video conferences to fire people, leaving Bingham jobless, and second, he falls in love with Alex (Vera Farminga, The Departed), who seems to be just like himself, only female. Written and directed by Jason Reitman, Up in the Air is only one of the funny but mindful films regarding discredited characters. Other works similar to this one include Juno which stars a pregnant teen, and Thank You for Smoking which features an executive of a cigarette company. George Clooney on the other hand, is quite experience with playing men who think they’re smarter than everyone else only to find that in reality, they’re just as smart as other people. The combination is perfect. Up in the Air offers audiences a film of compassion and clarity. Of course the supporting cast was brilliant as well consisting of Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Anna Kendrick (Rocket Science), Melanie Lynskey (Away We Go), and Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) among others.
–Bret Fetzer