Years before Jason Reitman, son of legendary comedic director Ivan Reitman, became known for his work on Ghostbusters sequels he cut his teeth on much more serious affairs. His work on Thank You For Smoking and Juno garnered him several award nominations with Juno even getting an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and Director in 2007. His follow-up to Juno, Up in the Air, is a thought provoking look at emotional distancing as seen through the eyes of a man whose very job requires him to be detached while at the same time putting on a façade to hide that. This man, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), has so isolated himself from emotional attachments that he’s miserable when he’s not traveling and all he really has to look forward to is racking up ten million sky miles so that he can be numbered among the most elite flyers.
His job is simple, or at least it looks that way on the surface. He travels around the country, on the road over three hundred days a year, to assist companies that are downsizing their staff by informing people they will no longer have a job. He has this down to an art, able to help people see the positive side of a very negative experience and ease them through it while covering all the bases to avoid wrongful termination lawsuits. He also gives motivational speeches that are heavy on isolationism and avoiding emotional baggage. He hates when he’s not traveling and has distanced himself from his siblings, one of which is going through a trial separation and the other is getting married. A chance encounter with a like minded woman at the airport, Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), leads to the ultimate long distance relationship as the two spend an evening together and then try to coordinate which airports they’ll bump into each other at to continue their little tryst.
Bad news comes when Ryan is called into a meeting involving new hire Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who has a radical new idea to save the company a lot of money by eliminating the travel expenses and do all the firing online through a video conference chat. She has the whole process distilled down to a set of prewritten responses that one just follows verbatim for each person, removing the human element from the equation. Ryan sees this as a threat to his accustomed lifestyle as well as eliminating the humanity in what he does leaving the whole process soulless and cold. This is somewhat hypocritical as his job does that very thing for the companies that hire him. Ryan rightfully ascertains that Natalie lacks the fundamental understanding on how to handle emotionally vulnerable people during such a dark moment in their lives. His boss in turn directs Natalie to accompany Ryan on his next trip to observe the whole process.
What follows is a lesson on treating people with respect and dignity even while potentially upending their lives. Two moments stand out during this first trip out that will affect Natalie and give her a lot to think about when it comes to her bold new ideas. While testing out the voice conference method one laid-off person breaks down on camera and she is unable to console him. A second person threatens to commit suicide over losing her job. Natalie is shook up over the latter revelation but Ryan consoles her that it is probably just talk and will amount to nothing once the woman calms down.
A in-person termination conversation at first appears to be going badly and Natalie’s attempts to go off a script meet hostility until Ryan steps in and, using personal information he has pulled from the man’s file, he shows him how this could turn out for the better, providing him with an opportunity he would have never taken staying in his current job. Ryan is able to calm the man down and de-escalate the situation in a way that Natalie couldn’t even come close to doing. Natalie, on the other hand, challenges Ryan on his emotional bankruptcy, pressing him on his disdain for relationships, children and any other personal baggage. He sees all of this as a dead weight that can hold him down. This mindset weighs on her once her boyfriend, a man she turned down better jobs for so she could follow him, dumps her via text message.
Ryan distills his whole life down to a simple philosophy: keep moving and never get involved with anything that will tie him down. His experiences with Natalie shake this philosophy up a little, enough so that he invites Alex to accompany him to his sister’s wedding. When the groom gets cold feet, Ryan is tasked with talking sense into the man even though he, himself, doesn’t believe in settling down. He begins to feel just how shallow his life really is, though, and makes an attempt to fill it with Alex, only to discover she has a secret she has kept from him, a secret that cuts into his newfound desires to the core. He has realized just how hollow his ambitions have been and, standing in the airport, looking at all the possible destinations he could go, he finally lets go of his travel bag.
Jason Reitman has crafted an introspective look at a man who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of a goal that really amounts to nothing more than numbers on a list. When Ryan finally achieves that goal he doesn’t feel celebratory but melancholic, realizing just how pointless it all was without someone to be there with. This is the emotional core of Up in the Air, a film that challenges the notion of sacrificing relationships and personal bonds in life. It’s a lonely existence that even a man like Ryan eventually realizes is unsatisfying. Reitman masterfully weaves this message throughout his film without being preachy about it. It’s a universal desire in nearly everyone to have someone to love; some people just realize it later than others.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, and Jason Reitman
Best Director: Jason Reitman
Best Actor: George Clooney
Best Supporting Actress: Vera Farmiga
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
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Release Date: December 4, 2009
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick and Danny McBride
Directed By: Jason Reitman
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