Up In The Air (out 15 January 10, Cert. 15) George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, directed by Jason Reitman, 2008, cert. 15
Monkey Score: 90%
What It's About:
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is happiest when jetting around the country from assignment to assignment as an employment termination consultant. He does his job with a high level of professionalism, taking pride in firing employees with dignity, but his main drive is to build up his frequent flyer mileage. His dream is in fact to reach 10 million miles. Fresh out of college graduate Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) comes up with a cost-saving plan to use video conference in place of face-to-face meetings that would effectively see him grounded at head-office in Omaha, Nebraska. Bingham fears that Natalie does not understand the implications of long-distance firing, and he's panicked at having to be 'home' all the time especially since he recently met a frequent flyer woman after his own heart, Alex (Vera Farmiga.) Bingham gets tasked by his boss (Jason Bateman) to take Natalie on the road and show her the ropes before a final decision is made.
|
What MovieMonkeys Thought: Up In The Air is a subtle, often funny look at what drives people, and how what they think they want does not always live up to expectations. Clooney's Bingham dreams of the status he would achieve by reaching 10,000,000 frequent flyer miles - not to do anything with but for the sake of it. The typical Clooney charmer who met Alex at the beginning of the film slowly gives way to a man whose refusal to make meaningful human connections comes from the most basic need to love and be loved. Clooney's performance is all in nuances. As he takes an impressive Anna Kendrick along to teach her the ropes, she ends up teaching him that there's more to life than platinum cards. Jason Reitman's direction is spot on, giving plenty of room to his cast for them to feel the material and bring it to life with talent. The story moves at a pace as Bingham goes on his self-discovery journey and never falls into a lull. It's definitely one not to be missed. Up In The Air is a roaring success from start to finish, bittersweet yet funny, and eminently touching. George Clooney's performance has "Oscar" written all over it.
|
|
|
