Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman who causes him to rethink his transient life.
Up in the Air benefits enormously from George Clooney's chameleonic performance as Ryan Bingham, anchoring a film about emotional detachment with surprising warmth. The supporting cast — Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick especially — elevate what could have been a straightforward midlife-crisis narrative. The plot is solid and timely (released amid the 2008 recession), though it follows a fairly predictable arc of a lone wolf reconsidering his solitary lifestyle. Cinematography is competent and functional, capturing airports and hotel corridors with a certain lived-in realism but without distinctive visual flair. The ending is notably bittersweet and honest, resisting easy resolution, which is one of the film's stronger choices. Novelty is moderate — the film has a distinct tone and sharp social commentary about modern work culture, but the central premise of a commitment-phobe learning to connect is well-worn territory.