Article By: Ethan Long

Ryan Bingham lives above everyone else, and he likes it. It’s only fitting that Jason Reitman’s next film, after his 2007 hit comedy Juno, would be more of an adult film, dealing with a man who just doesn’t want to settle down, but wants to continue his life “Up in the Air,”(Cold Spring/Paramount, 2009) as the title suggests.

George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven, Batman and Robin) plays a man who can never stay in one location for long. He is sent across the country to various locations, hired to be the man who has to terminate employees at countless different companies. His reason? “People do crazy shit when they’re fired.”

The movie, adapted from Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel of the same name, starts off with a montage of Bingham’s firings, as the ex-employees stare back at him asking, “Why?” Certain actors, such as the recently popular Zach Galifianakis, were written in for parts as terminated employees.

JK Simmons, who played Juno’s father in Reitman’s last film, plays a company man who has been told by Clooney that his time at the company has ended. Reitman told the Journal during a recent college roundtable, that “I hope JK is in every movie I ever make.” Many directors use the same actors repeatedly because of the comfort and safety it gives them. “Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock had these beautiful women, and I have JK Simmons.”

Reitman also discussed his usage of crew he previously worked with, and the fact that he’s known most of the crew since high school. “It’s important for me to be surrounded by people I love and people I trust.”
Up in the Air has been a hyped film for this year’s Oscars, as it is one of the few worthy movies coming out this season. The journey Reitman has taken since the early preproduction of the film really spans his career. He started writing the script seven years ago, way before Ellen Page ever graced her fat suit.

“When I started writing it, I was a single guy living in an apartment,” Reitman said. Since then, Reitman has released a couple of movies, in addition to becoming a married man and a father.

Bingham, played by George Clooney, certainly has his times with the women – but just that, nothing more. While travelling, Bingham runs into one woman who calls herself Bingham “with a vagina.” They end up sleeping together; priding themselves on the different traveler’s clubs they are a part of. Alex Goran (The Departed’s Vera Farmiga) has just about as many membership cards to different traveling companies as Bingham does, and the luxury they both are able to have with those cards are what brings them together. Her job, too, sends her around the country at all times, so she never has time for any kind of home life. Both quickly cross reference each other’s phones, looking at each other’s schedules to see when they will be close enough to see each other again.

We soon meet the others in Bingham’s life, as he heads home for a company meeting. His boss Craig Gregory, played by Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman, is updating the company and taking all of the firings to the internet. Gregory introduces Natalie Keener, a young woman, top of her university class, who has just started to integrate digital resources into the company. The character, played by Anna Kendrick (Rocket Science, Twilight), proves to be the exact opposite of Bingham. While he enjoys traveling around the country with no certain future, she has moved in with her boyfriend and is enjoying the settled life as she awaits her future with him. Keener’s new system will be bringing all of the companies’ employees out of the air and into the chairs. Bingham, being the old dog of the company, isn’t too pleased, but they let him stay in the air for a bit longer.

Soon enough, Bingham is again alone in a hotel, staring out the window as snow falls in whatever nameless city he is staying in that night. At this point, the movie really doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and that’s certainly what Bingham feels like. For a man who travels for a living, he must feel like his life is truly going nowhere.

The film plays up comedy well, with Bateman and Clooney mastering the craft of making people smile. The theater will laugh up anything from an awkward exchange to the clever wordplay.

Mixed with beautiful shots of locations around the United States, if there was ever a movie that makes one want to travel, this would be it. From 30,000 feet in the air, Bingham goes everywhere, although he’s never really been anywhere.

“He’s seen America, but he hasn’t seen America. He’s seen every city, but he hasn’t really seen them,” Reitman said.

Bingham barely ever ventures out of the hotels he stays in, yet he tells others that he’s surrounded with people. He’s a man who is all over, but inside, alone. He enjoys being on the run from a settled life.
If timely issues and clever writing are what you want to see at the movie theater, then Up in the Air is a breath of fresh air for you, as Oscar season is starting. Up in the Air is very entertaining movie that will make you chuckle as well as fear the future job markets that students all across the country are joining.

“Up in the Air” opens nationwide Dec. 11.