Up In The Air

Trust me, I had my doubts about this movie. I wondered what could possibly make it so special a movie occasion. I'd heard all the accolades from several hundred people fortunate enough to have seen this film before me, but I still had my doubts. I mean really, a movie about a guy who flys around firing people? And George Clooney? Don't get me wrong, the guy is the man. He's classy, upbeat, and damn fun to watch. But I had my hesitations. Was this going to be another movie where George just out-classes everyone and goes about his business? I figured this movie for a total idolization of George Clooney as a star, and of his character in this movie. Can you blame me? George walks on the scene and it changes the atmosphere of an entire movie. The air just screams, "This guy is a movie star." And not the Christian Bale, "You and me, we're DONE professionally"-outburst, kind of movie star either. I'm talking our generation's Clark Gable.

But enough hamhanded Clooney worshiping. There's a movie he's in called Up in the Air!

George Clooney may out class everyone ever, but aside from being a frequent-flyer rock star, his character, Ryan Bingham, is a pretty average guy. Unlike most of his films, every time he entered the room, I did not think "movie star". I thought, "Hey, he kinda looks like my dad." For all I know, this guy could be my dad. Or rather, my dad could be doing his job. Either way, I know that my dad wouldn't be doing some of the things he does in this movie. He flies first class. He flies more every year than an astronaut. He has one-night stands. He fires people. Okay, so does my dad (my dad could fire your dad), but not frequently and not for a living. At first glance, Ryan Bingham could be just an average, alright guy. Once you get to know him though, you can see he's missing something.

First we're thinking it's success. How he constantly craves it throughout the movie is one of the "big themes". And yet we know it's got to be more than that. He preaches that to truly succeed, we must do away with material things and relationships. We must keep them from bogging us down. But in a way, isn't what he's striving for also material? Towards the end of the film, we see Ryan getting exactly what he wants, and in some cases what he's always dreamed of, but he isn't fulfilled. I think we all realize at some point in our lives that what we shoot for isn't always what we really want.

Ryan's protege, Natalie Keener (played by Anna Kendrick), realizes this when she is dumped by her boyfriend over text message. In a brilliant scene where she, Ryan, and his casual woman of interest (Vera Farmiga) are waiting for a flight, they discuss the mythical fantasy of having an awesome career and getting married to the perfect man. Natalie then comes to grips with the fact that her dreams were really just that - a dream. Then she has a one-night stand of her own.

Then there's the people Ryan fires. One beautiful thing about this movie is how often the attaining of success is interwoven with the misery of total ruin. It feels like the lives of all these poor people are crumbling beneath them. Why? Because their livelihoods, nay their very idea of being a successful person, rides on whether they've got a job or not. Losing that is an incredibly scary thing. Ryan says he's providing a path for them to take towards a new beginning. It is a new beginning, but not one that most people want to have to take. It's a pathway to a better, more fulfilling life for them in some cases. In other cases, it's a path to destruction.

Either way, Jason Reitman gives us a very human movie, filled with very human moments. It's rare to find a movie so ordinary and yet so extraordinarily devoted to expressing the human condition. What we learn from Ryan Bingham isn't all about his tragic fate, but what he realizes from his fate. He was doomed to his fate from the beginning. Unless we can find more to life than what we strive for, so are we. Then maybe getting fired would be a step in the right direction.