Up In The Air

Based on the novel of the same name, in Up In The Air George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a smooth talking rep of a firm that other companies hire in order to fire their own employees. Bingham loves his job, though that’s more due to the executive lifestyle he leads jetting around the country, rather than any pleasure taken in giving people the boot. Bingham’s seemingly happy life is thrown askew when his company employs Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a recent college grad, who puts forward an idea that will cut costs for the company they both work for, but means that Bingham and co will be grounded. There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle regarding ownership of the screenplay for this, but director / writer Jason Reitman hand is prevalent throughout the film as he deftly moves the storyline along, including some spectacular aerial footage of the various cities bookmarking the scenes, whilst making sure we emotionally engage with the characters. This is helped in part by the knowing fear that we all have of losing our jobs, and the decision to include interviews in the film with people who had in reality recently been fired. Ironically, Reitman originally wrote the film when the US economy was in a boom period, but the fact it’s been released during a recession makes the storyline all the more pertinent. Despite it’s (at times) difficult subject matter, Reitman gives us a few decent laughs as we go along, but his attempts at satire fall a long way short of Thank You For Smoking and a scene lampooning business cards is a poor cousin of similar scenes from Mary Harron’s American Psycho. In addition, the punch line to a side story concerning Vera Farmiga is telegraphed from a mile off. Luckily these minus points are counter balanced by Clooney’s great performance. Though Kendrick and Farmiga more than hold their own, this is Clooney’s film all the way. From his shaky start in films Clooney really has matured into one of the more bankable male stars of recent times. It’s been suggested in some quarters that Bingham’s supposed about turn in values at the end of the film is duff, but I feel Clooney plays it perfectly from the start. We know how much he loves his jet set way of living, but you always get the impression even he knows there’s more to life than priority check in at an airport.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Despite the subject matter this does feel a trifle thin at times, but Gorgeous George holds it all together. Rating: 7/10.