Up In The Air! No it's not the sequel to Up. Hahahaha.. K that was lame. Retarded lameness aside, this movie is really really good. Fans of mature indie flicks like Little Miss Sunshine are gonna dig the hell out of this movie.
Okay so the movie is about a guy, Ryan Bingham who is like this downsizing agent. Companies pay him to fire their employers for them. And he's fired so many people that he has become a shallow person. He has no soul at all. He's so hollow that he loves being on the road and up in the air. He loves not having any human relationships or connections. In comes this young girl, Natalie who has this idea of firing people online thus saving the travelling expenses and crushing Binghams whole existence because he is aiming to get 10 million frequent flyer miles by staying up in the air as long as possible. So he decides to bring Natalie along to some of his business trips to try and change her mind.
George Clooney is absolutely fantastic here. We get the same charming witty character Clooney's use to playing but with a twist that this charming personality of his is just a mask of hiding the fact that he is really lonely. He has no friends, no close ties with family and no real home to go back to. The only place where he feels whole is when he is riding in an airplane because that's what he's been doing for so long. He's so cut off that the only goal that he has in life is to reach 10 million flyer miles. Which is kinda like a World of Warcraft geek wanting to reach level 10000000 or something.
And at the same time we are following this character Natalie as she watches her personal life fall apart as she is slowly turned into George Clooney' character. Not because she wants to but just because of what her job demands of her. Anna Kendrick is really amazing here. I didn't really notice from the start but she's one of Bella's friends from the Twilight series.. You know the really minor sidekick character who magically loves Bella? Yeah that's the one.
I love how she starts her character off as the very naive scared first time on the job person which I think we all can identify with to becoming a powerhouse to slowly burning out as the job begins to take a toll on her. And Anna Kendrick pulls off Natalie brilliantly!
It really makes me mad looking back at the Twilight series thinking that they had this amazing actress and they just threw her to the side to make way for spoilt "attractive" "actors." Remember in 2008 when all the Twilight freaks were lobbying for Rob Pattinson to get an Oscar nomination for playing Edward Cullen? Justice never seemed so sweet watching Anna Kendrick get nominated for her Golden Globe muahahahha. Suck it Twilight girls. I expect her to get a Best Supporting Actress nod but sorry hun Mo'Nique's gonna win it. At least you'll get nominated.
I also gotta salute Vera Farmiga who plays the female version of Clooney. She is smouldering in this movie. You get the sense that she is in control and you better behave if you want any of her cookies (if you get what i mean) She had George Clooney down on his knees throughout the whole movie. And she is hella hot. There's is one scene where she's naked on the bed with Clooney, that ass...... whoooooo hahaha.
Up In The Air takes a big stab at the whole elite status concept. Everyone wants elite status am I right? Everyone wants to get priveledges normal people wouldn't have simply because we think the lifestyle is glamorous or bla bla bla. Well too much of it is a bad thing I guess from what the movie is saying.
Jason Reitman the director is 3 for 3 right now. I loved Thank You For Smoking, I loved Juno and I love this little film he's done here. No it's not as funny as his previous two but it's definitely the most mature character driven pieces in the indie scene. Will it get nominated for Best Picture? I don't know really. Part of me wants it to, but with all the other great films that came out like Avatar, 500 Days of Summer and Precious, it's got real slim chances.
RATING: 7.5/10