I have been looking forward to seeing the new Jason Reitman movie, "Up In The Air", starring George Clooney. It is listed as a comedy/drama and deals with a corporate downsizing company who flies the country "firing" people. Clooney's character, Ryan, is one of their best and he has life figured out. He even gives seminars about it. He is the ultimate believer in traveling light.
He also is a master traveler approaching 10,000,000 miles. But that is not the movie.
The movie deals with you and me and on what is important our lifestyles. What is shallow? What is family? Who is important and what is important. There is to female actors in this film, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. One is a fellow forty+ something frequent flyer that he "hooks" up with out on the road. The other is a twenty something assigned to him and has sold the company a plan to replace Ryan. I bring them up because there is a scene in a hotel lounge where the two compare the goals of life. It is an ultimate display of generation gap.
What is disarming about this film (like all Reitman movies) is the originality and lack of worn out lines. Like "Juno" and "Thank You For Smoking" the director gets your full attention whether drama or comedy. He does what I crave in good movies: He challenges me to think.
FYI: It is R rated for f bomb language and a brief semi nude scene. But this movie is too thought provoking for such things to matter.
When I saw "Blindside" and "Invictus" I thought that I had scene a great stories and they were. They were also true. Great Fiction is even harder. This is a great movie for any "thinking adult". It is as good as I have seen Clooney.
I give this one ***** stars (5)!
2009 movie #82
PS: In one scene in the movie they are trying to tell George's character the benefits of using the computer conferencing instead of taking trips and say, "This way you don't have to spend Christmas in Tulsa!"
1 comment:
I really loved this movie, too. Probably one of my favorites this year.
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