Jason Reitman attained instant popularity with Thank You for Smoking and widespread acclaim with Juno, but if you really think of it, Up in the Air might just be his most matured movie to date. Not that the other two weren’t good, in fact they were just as engrossing; just that his latest flick has a far more palpable soul than them. The movie starts off in the neat satirical tone that just grabs you by the neck and makes you pay attention to Ryan Bingham, a high-flying hatchet man whose job it is to aid in the downsizing of companies, who spends more time on the flight and elsewhere, and who is really happy with his isolated, detached existence. But then he ends up striking a casual conversation with a fellow traveler, and even though they end up in bed in real quick time, he finds himself slowly and surely falling in love with the lady. With the terrible recession as its backdrop, the movie is an affecting picture of the existential crises and loneliness of jet-setters with six-figure salaries. The shift in tone from satire to drama has been handled very well, and the performances of the two leads, George Clooney and Vera Farmiga, especially the wonderful chemistry they share, go a long way in making this movie a brisk, enchanting and warm-hearted tale of our troubled times.
Director: Jason Reitman
Genre: Comedy/Existential Drama/Social Satire/Romance/Road Movie
Language: English
Country: US
