Director Jason Reitman's new film, "Up in the Air", is a very different movie for every single person who sees it. Lots of messages can be taken away from it as the film covers many issues. This keeps the brain thinking about the movie days after it is over, which is very hard for a movie to do these days. All of these messages make "Up in the Air" a treat to watch, but when they are all muddled together at the end it stops the film from being an outright masterpiece.
"Up in the Air" is about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney). Bingham fires people for a living, he goes to cities all around the U.S. to fire people because the real bosses of the company do not want to. This premise may seem a little funny, but when Ryan's job get jeopardized by a new co-worker at his firm, the audience sees what Ryan's life is really all about. Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), proposes to Ryan's company that firing people over the Internet with an iChat is far more helpful and saves a lot more money than flying all over the country to do it. When Ryan objects, his boss makes him take Natalie on the road with him to see what the job is like.
The film starts off with a very light tone to it, as Ryan shows Natalie the ropes about air travel, firing techniques, and crashing parties. When Ryan meets up with Alex (a female "road warrior" with the exact same job he has) though, his life gets a little more complicated after they sleep together. They keep in touch (literally and figuratively) and Ryan invites her to his sister's wedding. "Up in the Air" takes on a dramatic tone at this point when Ryan realizes how much he has missed his family, and any human connection for that matter. He describes his relationship with Alex as "casual", and still wants to remain in the "cocoon of self-banishment" that he has made for himself (he spent 322 days on "the road" last year). Ryan is a motivational speaker, and his message is to avoid commitment at all costs.
A film with this much story going on has to wander at some points, and it does. Reitman's screenplay (co-written by Sheldon Turner) does not know where to go towards the end. He knows exactly what he is doing in the funny first half of the film, but the entire storyline with the wedding seems forced in. There is no transition from firing people to the wedding, it just cuts to Wisconsin (where the wedding takes place). Reitman also does not seem to know which message to tell, or if he should tell one at all. "Up in the Air" could be a character study of Ryan, or a message about human connection, or commentary about the United States' economic climate. Reitman tries to put these all into one statement, but this results in a muddled and somewhat downer ending. The dialogue itself though is very well written and razor sharp though, making some conversations between Ryan and Natalie is marvel to watch.
The acting in "Up in the Air" is incredible. George Clooney plays Ryan to perfection. He plays him as condescending with no desire for human connection at all. When he falls in love though, he plays Ryan with a rare vulnerability and kindness that is hard to find in a Clooney performance. Kendrick is also fantastic as Natalie, whose naive approach to Ryan's job is not annoying, but rather nice and fun. Vera Farmiga, who plays Alex, is adequate, and J.K. Simmons is a major scene stealer in his five minutes on the screen. The cinematography is very well done, there is an off-putting shift to the hand-held style two-thirds of the way through for no apparent reason, but it is still well done. The editing of the film is perfect, the film is not too long and not too short, and is such a rarity in movies these days. The score is also well done, including the original song for the film, "Help Yourself", by Sad Brad Smith.
"Up in the Air" is a very well done film, and everything is there to make it a masterpiece. The only thing that stops it is the film's inability to fully commit to one storyline/theme/message. Some might find this the strong point of the movie, but because the film does not fully commit to one thing, it never fleshes out all the story lines enough. This provides almost no depth to any of the characters, especially Ryan, whose only depth comes from a beautiful scene in his old high school. This is one of the best movies of the year, just not the best of the year.
Verdict: GO SEE IT!
****/***** (4/5 stars)
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