“To know me is to fly with me,” says Ryan Bingham as he packs his bags and moves through the airport with rapier-like precision. “Everything you hate about travel… are warm reminders that I’m home.” It’s the perfect introduction to a man George Clooney was born to play.
Bingham is a 21st century gunslinger, hired to travel around the country firing employees their bosses are too timid to terminate. Bingham spends over 300 days a year on the road, and loathes every minute of the few days he’s home in Omaha. He finds comfort in first class upgrades, Admiral’s Club admission and frequent flyer miles (his dream is to become the 7th person to reach 10 million). “Moving is living,” he says in his “What’s In Your Backpack” motivational speeches, avoiding emotional intimacy at all costs and considering commitment a fate worse than death.
When he meets a fellow road warrior (Vera Farmiga) in a hotel bar, comparing reward program cards and discussing mile-high club experiences, it’s a match made in heaven. “Think of me as yourself,” she quips, “only with a vagina.” After a quick romp through the Kama Sutra, they’re coordinating schedules to arrange another rendezvous. That is, until Bingham’s upwardly mobile associate (Anna Kendrick) suggests the company fire people via teleconference, saving themselves thousands on travel costs. Bingham’s job may not be in jeopardy, but his nomadic lifestyle is, and there’s an undeniable air of comedic tension as he takes the young gun on the road to show her the ropes.
Co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, Up In The Air is easily one of the year’s best films– an adult comedy that evenly balances humor and heart while tapping into our cultural zeitgeist by putting human faces on the economic downturn. Jason Bateman delivers another fine supporting turn as Bingham’s smarmy boss, while Kendrick proves one of the year’s best new talents as a recent college grad struggling to get ahead in her career while pursuing the traditional American family dream.
The film wisely makes no character judgments, leaving it up to the audience to decide whether Bingham’s existence is a valid lifestyle choice or merely a self-protective emotional cocoon. It also offers no pat Hollywood resolutions, letting you figure out for yourself whether our dashing cowboy hangs up his hat for good or simply rides off into the sunset. (A) –BRET LOVE
(originally appeared in INsite)
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