Up In The Air is the latest film from Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You For Smoking) and stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham whose job is simple. Fly from place to place firing people. He loves the lifestyle of living out of his suitcase and never being home but it all goes south when his boss (Jason Bateman) decides to ground him and use video conferencing for the job instead.
Ryan takes exception to this and is made to take the person who thought of the new idea (Anna Kendrick) on one of his cross country trips with him.
A bit of an odd feeling after I left the cinema after this one. Whilst I sat there and enjoyed the film and the performances (especially Clooney who was superb) I left feeling a little empty. I had the same feeling during the (slightly superior) Juno. Just didn't find it something I really wanted to see again.
It wasn't the cast that caused this that's for sure. As previously mentioned Clooney is terrific as is Vera Farmiga as Ryan's 'friend' who meets up with for fun whenever their schedules cross paths.
There's some nice little cameos in there too. The Hangovers Zach Galifianakis is great in an all too brief appearance as someone being 'let go' at the start of the film, and the legendary Sam Elliott always brightens up the worst film.
Was suprised by a quite subtle performance by Danny McBride (Eastbound And Down) as the fiance of Ryan's sister. Very much used to this guy going OTT so it was nice to see him showing he is capable of more (or in this case less).
But even with all that I was left flat by the end of the film, I guess it missed a certain something I can't put my finger on.
***
A fine enough journey to be on, but when you deboard it feels very much like a round trip.
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