Monday, January 25, 2010

Up in the Air

"Up in the Air" is Jason Reitmans directorial follow up to "Juno" and screenplay writing follow up to "Thank you for Smoking" that follows Ryan Bingham(George Clooney) through different air ports and different business establishments around the country. Bingham works for a company that gets hired to fire people at other companies. Kind of ironic isn't it? Hiring for firing? Well anyways, he's very good at his job, and everything that entails. Bingham is kind of like most of us, he's comfortable in what he does, he feels safe, and he has a routine. Unlike most of us he is completely disconnected from most of the world. Bingham doesn't have a favorite television program that he catches every week, a favorite place to eat 5 blocks from his house, or buddies he plays poker with once a week. Bingham has a blackberry, and much like The Narrator (Fight Club-Ed Norton) he has 'single serving friends' on airplanes, and a suitcase full of dress clothes. As the movie goes on we are introduced to Binghams empty, bleak, deathly apartment in Omaha, NE. Bingham's boss Craig Gregory(Jason Bateman) is an interesting character also, he is Binghams friend but also his boss and does a very good job of balancing that role. Gregory was probably the idiot jock guy in high school, but somehow broke out of that mold and grew up to be somebody. He isn't very insightful, he really has one goal and that is to make money, which I mean who can blame him? Gregory introduces the wildcard Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) to Bingham as someone that he will need to train to do his current job, though not functionally replacing him. Natalie helps Bingham realize how disconnected he actually is from the world and that maybe it's time for him to reevaluate things. Bingham meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a flight attendant, which he thinks he shares a lot of common interests with and ultimately falls for, in some capacity. They make a quite unusual arrangement, which gets diluted and called in to question at some point. As a small side not Danny McBride has a small role in this movie as Bingham’s future brother in law and is very good in that role, though quite limited. I found this movie really infatuating because a lot of focus is put on loyalty programs, though it has functionally nothing to do with the film. I think that people that master these programs like Ryan Bingham are fascinating and I strive to be like them in some way or another. Commitment to one brand is like a marriage, and a marriage is hard to make work when something sexier comes along. I have a friend that earns these coke points, though they are pretty much worthless, but if Pepsi comes out with a new drink that is amazing that guy is screwed. I wish that I could commit to a brand like that. This is certainly a coming of age story, a love story, and a life story. Ryan Bingham at times makes us envy everything about him and at others despise his existence. I think that I probably connected with the character a little better than most would because I pretty much envy him 100% of the time, but I don’t have the expectations that others will. It is unquestionably a story of friendship, the way that Keener and Bingham grow together as friends and coworkers is very dynamic. But at the end this is probably my pick for best picture, I have a hard time distinguishing between this and "The Hurt Locker" as best picture because they exists on completely different levels of movie viewing. Really anyone can watch this movie but that isn't true for "The Hurt Locker", you have to be able to watch that movie. I think that Clooney did an amazing job portraying one of Reitmans dark, witty characters. It's a fantastic movie, the plot, the storytelling are all very very good. Certainly worth watching. 4 and a half stars out of 5. Good viewing.
JP

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