Review of "Up In the Air"

Shane and I went to see Up In the Air today at our local multiplex.  Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking)  directs this adaptation of Walter Kirn's comic novel.  George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a businessman on the verge of reaching 10 million frequent flyer miles when his company decides to cut back on travel.  The purpose of his company's business is firing people, not that "firing" is a term they would use.  With the downturn in the economy, business is good.  

I hear that this movie is getting a lot of Oscar hype, but I don't understand what all the excitement is about.  It is a pleasant enough film, but I wouldn't say I loved it.  There is no high drama or high comedy.  There were a few chuckles now and then and the message of the film seemed to be that people and relationships are important.  I agree with that.  I didn't know that there were many people who needed that lesson.  There are certainly other films that I thought were better than this one -- Julie and Julia for instance -- and I haven't seen that many movies made in 2009.

Clooney is charming, as usual, in the lead.  Vera Farminga plays the "like" interest, another business type on the road all the time.  She also is very charming.  Anna Kendrick is a perky upstart that Clooney's character takes under his "wing."  Get it?  They are always on a plane.  Anyway, my favorite scene is Kendrick's breakdown in a hotel lobby after she is gets some bad news. 

I am giving the film three sponges.  Given the subject, there were some laughs and the reactions of the people getting fired were always interesting.  Clooney's character's life examination was so so.  The twist at the end wasn't that much of a surprise.   I was sort of hoping something more interesting would happen.