We Hate Hollywood

Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Tamala Jones, Chris Lowell
Rated R for profanity and sexual content
Rating - Golden Gun

“The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living.” - Ryan Bingham

Ryan Bingham is a shark.  He is a corporate downsizing consultant who spends most of his year flying around the country laying off employees in companies whose managers are too chicken to wield the ax themselves.  He is constantly moving through airport security checkpoints, between arrival and departure gates, and into rental cars.  In his wake, he leaves people at their most vulnerable - jobless, angry, and scared.  In addition to his work, Ryan gives motivational speeches around the country in which he discusses the benefits of a life free of relationships and mounds of material possessions.  He has found happiness in constantly moving forward amidst a sea of traveling strangers.

To say Bingham is played effortlessly by George Clooney is an understatement.  In fact, some have criticized the role as being “tailor-made” for him.  Whatever.  Even if it was, it fits him perfectly and propels the story.  Clooney plays the character with a panache and intensity that makes him - like Michael Clayton - the perfect charming anti-hero.  He is shallow but funny and brutally honest.  In one terrific early scene, he shows a fresh Cornell grad, Natalie, the secrets to air travel.  He explains to her how to navigate the lines by stereotyping the age and ethnicity of the people in front of you.  Natalie is shocked by his method, but Clooney wins over the audience in that scene with his honesty and humor.

In many ways, this is a simple film.  I went into the film armed with a bare minimum of details about the plot.  Because I’d like for you to experience it in a similar manner, I will avoid as much of the plot as I can.  But this is a pitch-perfect drama that underscores the need for real human connections.  It’s so rare to see a film in today’s climate that is so open, honest, and pro-marriage.

The biggest strength of the film is in the script adapted by Sheldon Turner and director Jason Reitman based on the novel by Walter Kirn.  It is intelligent and excruciatingly witty.  Material such as this can be pretentious, but that doesn’t happen here.  In tone, Up in the Air is closer to Reitman’s previous film Thank You For Smoking than Juno.  Yes, it is making a statement about the human condition but it does so without beating you over the head with it or with quirky angst-ridden dialogue.

In some ways, the film is an examination of the ways in which our humanity is being crushed by the gears of corporate America.  No, it’s not a political film by any stretch of the imagination…it’s just a window into what that world does to people.  More importantly, it is an examination of the futility of a life spent chasing the dollar, and the cost of selfish goals.  In a sarcastic and pessimistic world, this is a real and uncommon breath of fresh, rational air.