Up in the Air

Up in the Air has been getting a lot of buzz and award chat, so we finally got out there and saw it. I am a big George Clooney fan, so I will give just about any movie he is in a chance. I have also enjoyed Ivan Reitman's other movies, Juno and Thank You for Smoking. This one lived up to the hype, this is definitely worth the extra few bucks to see in the theater.

This movie is based on a book of the same name and has an interesting premise. Ryan Bingham's (George Clooney) job is to fire people, he is a freelance hatchet man. As he says, he does the job that others are too afraid to do. He lives out of a suitcase, travelling over 350,000 miles a year and he loves the lack of attachment. When a pilot asks him where he is from, he says here - they are sitting on an airplane. The tension starts when his boss hires the young Natalie (Anna Kendrick) who has developed a system for firing people over video conferencing, saving travel costs and threatening everything that is good to Bingham. In an effort to show that her system won't work (and to save his way of life) he takes her on a cross country trip so she can see what it's really like out there.

This movie easily could have been a sappy love story, but Clooney and Reitman manage to keep it raw and edgy. Any time you think things are going to get too sugary, they take an interesting twist. Anna Kendrick, of Twilight fame, is also great. The fact that Clooney's character does not hook up with her in any way, and instead is with a more age appropriate woman, was reassuring. Expect an Oscar nod for Clooney.