Meet Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a high profile guy whose job is travelling about 322 days year, in order to axe people from their jobs. He moves from one company to another, one city to other cities. Yes, I was also surprised to know that there’s a company who employs people to travel around the country just to fire people, since the company boss just doesn’t have the guts to fire their own employees in their face. In this case, Clooney’s character appears to over enjoy his job, his flying accommodations, and also commitment free, as well as occasionally hooks up with a fellow traveller, Alex (Farmiga), if they able to synchronize their trip schedule.
Suddenly, Ryan’s boss, Craig (Jason Bateman) decided to try new system, after he was astonished by a new staff, Nathalie (Kendrick), who has the revolutionary idea of using i-Chat and video conferencing to lay off people. Eventually, Ryan is the first guy to object, since this means his methodology of work has become superseded. He confronted Nathalie and reasoned that what he has done so far is much more humane than using internet, and there are some things which are much more brutal in real life. In order to give Nathalie an eye opener, Craig asked Ryan to be the ‘tour guide’ for her, so she could experience the field job of firing people. Ryan has just entered a turning point in his life.
Conclusively, Up in the Air is one of the cleverest romantic comedy I’ve seen around, it’s not just mature in the essence, but the plot is also interesting, enriched by smart dialogues which will stuck in your head, and you can’t wait to share them among your friends. It’s not just about the relationship between couples, but also some lessons in life (‘What’s in your backpack’ seminar by Ryan is damn interesting).
Clooney is on fire on every scene. The opening scene where he ‘teaches’ us how to travel lightly and efficiently just shows how that this character is for him only. He is really enjoyed playing this character, with apparent individualistic and cool persona, but never realizes that he’s lonely inside. In short, watching Ryan is just like watching Clooney playing as himself, especially when Nathalie tried to sell Ryan the marriage idea, where he thinks it’s just a waste of time. Wow, that’s so Clooney in the real life.
Other cast are uniformly good as well, both Farmiga and surprisingly Kendrick. The latter who becomes the Clooney’s arch rival, shows tremendous performance, which I’m sure is a much worthwhile to watch than the Twilight series (yes, she plays there also). Her character is so unlikeable in the beginning and halfway through, she transforms into another character that has been overwhelmed by too many real life lessons at a time. The conversation between Nathalie and Alex discussing about each own “so-called ideal” partner type is a BIG IMPORTANT lesson for all girls. Make sure you pay attention there.
It's confirmed then this is Jason Reitman best movie after Juno, it's smart, light, it is operating 'outside of the box', but executed cleverly. Hollywood should make more quality things such as this one, unlike any other standard rom-com genre. It perfectly suits with our current modern life, e.g. internet, jobless, and the meaning of 'relationship' itself. On technical side, I like also Reitman's way to explore airports, and metaphor it as a "gate", a place where people come and go, a place where we spend time just to prepare ourselves to move from one destination to another, with all those troublesome rules and the check-in issues. Apparently we have wasted too much time on the airport.
Up in the Air does not just meet my expectations, it’s sky-rocketing above it. Ever since this movie has been a talking point in many movie festivals, the buzz about Up in the Air has made me so eager to watch it. Some say, this might win Clooney his Best Actor in the Oscar, and not to mention other categories as well. I can’t agree more with that. After watching this, you will learn a lot more what to put in your own ‘backpack’.
My Rating : 9/10
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