Up In the Air is a film about a man who travels around the country laying off workers for a variety of companies. Clooney is Ryan Bingham. Bingham is the hired gun sent to companies to do their dirty work. He is not the guy who makes the million dollar deal at the last second or saves the company from corporate espionage. He fires people. On his spare time, he delivers motivational speeches directed to those struggling to become independent from the things that tie them down like a relationship, house or even a job.
The film starts off with Bingham firing workers. He comes back home to Omaha to discover that his job is being threatened by a young and idealistic new employee. Her idea is to stop sending Bingham and other agents out into the field to lay off workers but to stay in the office and do the dirty work over an internet connection and video feed. Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) is the young go getter that insists that this new transition in the company's procedure will not make Bingham's position obsolete. Bingham is weary of this new technique and believes his job requires a certain sensitivity not found on a computer screen. After a debate with his boss Bingham is ordered to show Natalie the ropes. They go on a cross country tour of firing company workers and along the way Bingham dishes out job mentoring along with travel tips and relationship advice.
On his travels he encounters Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga) a female counterpart that is quick witted, sexually adventurous and as she puts it - Ryan Bingham but with a vagina. Alex and Ryan connect and eventually Bingham who once stood on the principle of solitude where things, objects, places and people do nothing but weigh you down is falling in love with Alex.
As Ryan bonds with Alex, he builds a friendship with his new coworker and reconnects with his two sisters over his baby sisters weddings ceremony. It seems a bit odd but other than difficulties of his profession, it is never understood why Clooney's character is so adamant about being alone. Quick to judge and easy to distance himself Bingham left home. Other than the harsh Wisconsin winter it is hard to understand why. His family seems like pleasant small town folk that dream of traveling the world but struggle financially to do anything let alone travel. If there is a more sinister wolf underneath sheep's clothing than I could not see it.
Eventually Clooney decides to give it all up for the woman he loves. He can no longer make lengthy public speeches about the trials of personal and intimate relationships. He suddenly wants to find himself attached. He has discovered, as he convinced his soon to be step brother not to leave his sister on their wedding day, everyone needs a co-pilot. Unfortunately the woman he chooses is married. A surprise that doesn't come off as shocking, unfounded but not shocking. The discovery of her marriage dashes a relatively clever film with a cliche twist. Bingham makes a decision to include someone in his life but that decision is ruined by her marriage thus his next decision to travel the globe with his 10 million air miles doesn't seem like a gradual evolution of thought but a reactionary one. How differently would the film have been if Bingham was simply rejected? Instead of her saying no because of her marriage, her simply saying no out of choice might have been a better parallel to his occupation and the fate of the workers he fires. Like Ryan, the viewer knows very little about Alex. Her marriage is a bit of a surprise but the film lacks any clues to merit this turn of events.
Director Jason Reitman does a fine job creating a methodical tempo for the film. With the repetition of scenes, sequences, and dialogue Clooney's Bingham character isn't a machine but a creature of habit. We see him travel, deliver motivational speeches, pack, and fire people with a consistency that doesn't get old but displays the success of his formula. The character had found success in this repetition but so does the film until the very end. As his life begins to change, Bingham changes his routine. It is meant to symbolize a changed man. A man slighlty unhinged. unfortunately the viewer is robbed of a key scene. At the end of the film, at a big motivational conference where Bingham has been invited to deliver his speech but cannot go through with it. He is in love and cannot deliver a speech about the profits of being content in being alone. He runs off the stage and is hit by the marriage of his lover. It is an unfortunate twist that the viewer doesn't get a chance to see Clooney deliver his motto for the third time. To see that speech for the third time would be a real chance to show the development of the character. It could have been that scene that everyone remembers. Why that speech doesn't exist is unfortunate. It would have been interesting to see if Clooney could dish out the goods. To see if he could deliver the same speech with the same impact but with different intentions and the opposite perspective would have been a sight to see.
Clooney has never been a great actor but he is perfectly cast in this role as Bingham. He is cheated out of the big impact scene that Hollywood films love to display. The scene where he saves his sister's marriage is cute and the scene in which he discusses his relationship with Alex over the phone lacks impact. He is perfectly cast because he is good looking enough to play the cavalier jet setting playboy. He has always come off as a charming guy and charming is something Bingham has to be to deliver the speeches and the pick me up motivational pep talks after laying off a half dozen people before lunch. He is lady killer and life coach. Clooney delivers his lines like slogans and the richness of his voice only adds fuel to the fire.
One also has to admire Reitman as he does not shy away from making a man whose job is to fire people the hero of his film, in this economy. It takes a certain amount of guts to make a film in which he tries to stir sympathy for characters that do and do not feel bad about firing people. I am not sure if his attempts at sympathy work but it certainly takes a certain amount of balls to film it. Rietman is crafty enough to never plea for Bingham to receive any amount sympathy but allows Natalie to garner some as her innocence seems lost. Sympathy doesn't come to those who have lost their job, at least not until one is actually fired via video conference. It is only when one person is fired through Internet communication that we feel sorry for the nameless company staffer and it is a sympathy that seems to come from how he is being fired rather than the firing itself. It is a hard message to sell. It is not exactly the Dr. Frankenstein or his monster story line. The viewer never gets the perspective of the company letting the workers go and Reitman again shows a certain objectivity by never making any of the companies the villain. I repeat, It is a hard argument to sell. It is argument that is never fully developed or convincing but that does not deminish the attempt or the cojones Reitman must have to relay the message.
Another thing to possibly examine is the portrayal of women in the film. Natalie is innocent and emotionally ruined by the news of her boyfriend leaving her. She also quits the company after word that one of the people she let go committed suicide. An act that leaves little to no impression on Bingham. She quits and pursues the career that she always wanted without the "typical" female pursuits of house, husband and family that caused her to abandon her original plans. While interviewing for her new position it seems unlikely that the position would have been filled with out the help of Ryan. The appropriately named Alex is the only other female of note and there is an interesting role reversal between her and Ryan. In some ways, at least stereotypically, she is more the dominant male figure compared to Ryan. She is sexually adventurous, commits a secretive affair and does not get emotionally attached to Ryan's plea for love. One might wonder who truly is the emotionally detached one of the two. It is also a woman that kills herself after being fired. It is so hard to see any positive female character in this film but the very same could be said for the men and the main character.
Up In the Air is a clever film that suffers from the occasional bout of stupidity. It is a movie that seems obsessed with debating youth and immaturity against adulthood and responsibility. The movie constantly refers to these two sides as Bingham lives his lifestyle. Is he a child for living the way he lives? Is he avoiding responsibility? Is he one step ahead of the game? Is he not mature for being able to separate his personal life with his professional one? With all this said, there is a great philosophical argument to be made about his alone man on an island routine but that argument is never made. It becomes a little frustrating that none of the characters as smart as they are never speak of anything else but what it means to be an adult.
Another lapse in judgement is the montage of workers who share their feelings about losing their job and the role their family or loved ones have played in helping them cope. It seems odd that Reitman would throw this scene in at the very end of the film. It seems like an obvious statement. The statement being that it is hard to live life alone and through the rough times, good friends and family can do a lot to help. The scene involving the recently laid off is not needed unless the director feels that the central message of the film is not clear or lost upon his audience. Reitman either doesn't believe his argument is sound or believes that the audience is too stupid to simply get it. It is a lapse in judgement to add this scene. Reitman comes off as not trusting his audience. If he desperately wanted to include their stories then it would have been better suited for the ending credits.
Up In the Air has a cheap plot twist in the end, an underdeveloped argument about being an adult, characters that lack back story, and failures in the editing room. With all that said, it is not a bad movie. Reitman somehow manages to make cram enough postcard imagery into a film about traveling along with enough humor and romantic intrigue to keep the film afloat. Clooney is good but is robbed of any moment to make it a great performance. Reitman is proving to be a skilled director and his ability to create humor out of despair and difficult situations is welcomed. Reitman who has also directed Thank You For Smoking and Juno seems perfectly fine with making movies about outcasts, rejects and loners. Bingham is a little bit of all those things. He is an outcast in his profession, rejected by the one he loves and in the end, ultimately alone.
The Cleveland International Film Festival.
