Up in the Air

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In economic times as shaky as these, it takes a certain amount of bravery to make your movie's hero a businessman who fires people as a profession, but that's what Jason Reitman does with Up in the Air. That he makes his main character sympathetic is just one of the film's startling achievements.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) makes his living personally handing out pink slips -- he's the top hatchet man at a company that other companies hire when they are downsizing. And since business is booming, his job keeps him on the go constantly. He flies all across the country, staying in a series of nice hotels. And although this itinerant lifestyle prevents him from having any kind of stable, regular life, this doesn't bother him in the slightest -- he's thrilled to be a boy in a traveling bubble. During one particular layover, he strikes up a conversation with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a fellow savvy traveler. They bond over the ins and outs of various airlines and hotels, and quickly fall into bed. By morning, they are figuring out when their schedules will allow them to meet up again, even though they both make it clear that there are no strings attached.

When Ryan arrives back in the home office, he meets no-nonsense career-oriented twentysomething Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a fast-rising up-and-comer who wants to change the company's practices and save millions by having the staff fire people remotely via webcams. Furious at the thought of losing a lifestyle he's grown quite comfortable with, he convinces his boss (Jason Bateman) to let him take Natalie on a few trips so that she can learn what it's really like to fire someone.

She learns the ins and outs of dealing with people who've been given the worst news of their lives -- how to handle them firmly but calmly, while serving up a few inspirational platitudes. Clooney brings to these sequences a maturity we haven't seen in his other work -- honestly, if you had to be fired you would want Ryan to do it. But it's precisely the character's ability to comfortably cut ties that makes him a loner in his private life. He conveys Ryan's lone wolf persona not as a defense against life -- a mask to cover up some hidden pain -- but simply as just the way the guy is. That makes his slow transformation -- his realization that Alex might be something more than just another friend with benefits -- all the more realistic.

Clooney may be in every scene, but he's far from the only performer who gets to shine: Farmiga might be one of the few actresses who can match him when it comes to playful sexiness; Kendrick finds depth in a part that could have been little more than a stereotypical high-strung go-getter; and J.K. Simmons breaks your heart as one of Ryan's many victims.

For its first half, Up in the Air combines the workplace comedy with the road movie, and it's an engaging, entertaining melding of those two durable genres. But where the film surprises is by changing gears halfway through into a bittersweet family comedy. Ryan's sister (Melanie Lynskey) is getting married, and, for possibly the first time in his life, he wants to make a real connection with his siblings. This follows through on yet another plot strand -- Ryan's attempt to make a living as a self-help guru. He has a side gig lecturing about how to manage your life, and he stresses that the weight of relationships in our lives slows us down when life is all about moving forward. Up in the Air is about Ryan learning what's true and what isn't about this speech he's been giving for years.

Reitman's film is so ambitious you can't shake the feeling he's trying to create "The Great American Movie," a summation of where we are right now at the close of the 21st century's first decade. Up in the Air is so truthful, poignant, and entertaining, so assured with its adherence to classical Hollywood structure, that he just might have pulled it off. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

• George Clooney : Best Actor - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Neill Blomkamp : Best Adapted Screenplay - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Terri Tatchell : Best Adapted Screenplay - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Dana E. Glauberman : Best Editing - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Vera Farmiga : Best Supporting Actress - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Director - Directors Guild of America, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Director - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Screenplay - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Screenplay - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• Vera Farmiga : Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - National Board of Review, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - National Board of Review, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - National Board of Review, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - National Board of Review, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - New York Film Critics Circle, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - Screen Actors Guild, 2009
• Vera Farmiga : Best Supporting Actress - Screen Actors Guild, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - Screen Actors Guild, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - Writers Guild of America, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - Writers Guild of America, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Director - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Ivan Reitman : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Daniel Dubiecki : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Vera Farmiga : Best Supporting Actress - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2009
• Dana E. Glauberman : Best Edited Feature - Drama - American Cinema Editors Guild, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - Austin Film Critics, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - Austin Film Critics, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - Austin Film Critics, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - Chicago Film Critics Association, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - Chicago Film Critics Association, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - Florida Film Critics, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Director - Florida Film Critics, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Screenplay - Toronto Film Critics Association, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Screenplay - Toronto Film Critics Association, 2009
• Anna Kendrick : Best Supporting Actress - Toronto Film Critics Association, 2009
• George Clooney : Best Actor - Washington D.C. Film Critics Associat, 2009
• Jason Reitman : Best Adapted Screenplay - Washington D.C. Film Critics Associat, 2009
• Sheldon Turner : Best Adapted Screenplay - Washington D.C. Film Critics Associat, 2009