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Up in the Air |  | Director: Jason Reitman
Actors: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride
Studio: Dreamworks
Category: Movie
Buy New: $3.99
as of 9/6/2010 20:41 CDT details
Seller: Amazon Video On Demand
Rating:  203 reviews
Sales Rank: 1942
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 110 Minutes
ASIN: B003E88TKS
Theatrical Release Date: December 23, 2009
Release Date: April 7, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
From Jason Reitman, the Oscar nominated director of "Juno," comes the new acclaimed film "Up in the Air" starring Oscar winner George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 203
 Incisive Look at Life's Emotional Baggage Through the Journeys of a Corporate Hatchet Man December 21, 2009
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
70 out of 80 found this review helpful
As someone who has both laid off staff and a year later, became the victim of a layoff after twelve years with the same company, I had a personal interest in seeing how director/co-screenwriter Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno) was going to adapt Walter Kirn's smart, unsettling 2001 novel. Even though eight years have elapsed since the book's publication, the filmmaker - along with co-writer Sheldon Turner - manages to deepen Kirn's themes in this wry, emotionally resonant 2009 dramedy and make them even more relevant with the pervasive downsizing of corporate America. The movie also manages to surprise even when certain plot turns seem evident before they occur. Initially, there is a veneer of cynicism that makes you think the story will be an abject lesson in the impermanence of life, but instead, it evolves into one man's journey into the heart of the emotional turbulence he had been careful to avoid. Toward that end, Reitman seems to be inspired by Alexander Payne's equally perceptive road movies, About Schmidt and Sideways, films that reflect a similar storytelling style.
The plot focuses on laser-sharp corporate layoff consultant Ryan Bingham, a man who regales in the impermanence of life by traveling 322 days on the road, informing targeted employees that they are about to lose their jobs. There is a necessary callousness in his approach, but he knows it's necessary to be present and honest when it comes to conveying the unpleasant news. Bingham is also a motivational speaker who espouses unburdening one's life of possessions and fitting everything essential within the confines of a backpack. Proving his case, he lives in hotels, airplanes, and airport terminals with his one life goal being the seventh person to collect ten million frequent-flier miles. If you can get past the Spartan one-bedroom apartment he keeps in Omaha for the 43 days he is forced to be at home, the hatchet man appears to lead a charmed if rather solitary life. Complications, however, ensue on both personal and professional fronts.
Bingham meets a fellow transient traveler named Alex Goran in an airport lounge and assesses that he may have found his soul-mate, so much so that he invites her to come to his estranged sister's wedding in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Bingham's boss wants to introduce a new strategy proposed by a fresh-faced, post-grad school upstart. New hire Natalie Keener suggests using remote teleconferencing to perform the layoff notifications. Since the new technology is the antithesis of Bingham's one-on-one method, he brings Natalie along on the road to show her how it can't possibly work. In a role that feels custom-tailored to all his strengths, George Clooney plays Bingham with an emotional precision that complements his charismatic persona which pivots between swaggering and self-effacing. On one hand, it's his most definitive movie-star role, and yet Clooney has never revealed as much about himself onscreen.
The always watchable Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Down to the Bone) is sexy and confident as the woman who seems perfect for Bingham, even though their adroit compatibility could not possibly sustain an actual commitment. Their interplay is fun to watch because there is a Cary Grant-Rosalind Russell-level rapport that keeps both on their toes. Anna Kendrick (Twilight) is winning as Natalie even if her character's naiveté feels a bit manufactured at times. Jason Bateman has a field day playing Bingham's smarmy boss, while Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, and Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) plays their accustomed types with aplomb as members of Bingham's immediate family. In cameos, J.K. Simmons (Juno) and Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) sharply play two of the victimized employees, but for the rest, Reitman uses non-actors replaying their recent experiences of getting laid off. As usual with Reitman's films, it boasts an eclectic soundtrack that works really well with the storyline.
Hands down the best film of 2009. February 4, 2010
G.V. (Mexico City, Mexico)
54 out of 68 found this review helpful
Hard to understand how a movie that manages to make you feel down in the dumps in many instances can have you laughing out loud the rest of the way. Perhaps because UP IN THE AIR is a movie so very full of surprises and complete knowledge of its main subject (I swear the next time I go through security in an airport I'll be looking for the oriental businessmen and avoid babies at all costs).
All throughout the movie I was expecting the obvious conclusion (the firer being fired) and was surprised to get something completely different in return, but even UP IN THE AIR's schocker scene, managed to make so much sense it's hard for me to understand how I didn't see it coming.
There's no question in my mind UP IN THE AIR will be the movie future generations will look back in trying to understand this particular era we live in. It is quiet simply a classic.
(About a Man Without a Purpose) March 17, 2010
Erol Esen (Webster, NY United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Is Clooney playing himself?...As with all of his other movies, I saw no variation in his acting whatsoever. Perhaps that's why this invariant thespian, with women-certified charm, stands out as one of the leading men of Hollywood. But the screenplay that is Up In The Air is clever, witty, and refreshing to remind the rest of us men what the purpose of life is: to propagate DNA, and ride the ripples we procreate with all their ups and downs.
Someone's Gotta Do It May 27, 2010
David Baldwin (Philadelphia,PA USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
In a perfect world we wouldn't need undertakers or IRS auditors or for that matter an employment terminator. In the latter occupation Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) does it so well even if he doesn't particularly like it or dislike it for that matter. To maintain some sense of sanity Ryan engages in casual affairs or keeps a log of his frequent flier miles and takes pride in the comps he's accumulated. With the current economic climate things couldn't be better for Ryan's field. Ryan, however, is at a mid-career crisis. The home office in Omaha wants to keep him off the road by doing internet hook-up firings. At home in Wisconsin he's reminded of the disconnect with his own roots and family. At this crossroad Ryan has some serious choices to make. I found "Up in the Air" to be a piece with director Jason Reitman's earlier effort "Thank You For Smoking" in that Reitman challenges the audience to sympathize with a central character with an unsavory occupation. George Clooney is excellent in suggesting the complexities of Ryan. The real find here is Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener, Ryan's Ivy League protogee. Natalie could have come off as an automaton but Kendrick mines the humanity and humor of the character. Vera Fermiga is alright but essentially her character is the standard girlfriend part. The accolades drawn by the film seem have caused a negative reaction among some viewers. Divorce it from the hype you will find it is an excellent film.
"How much does your life weigh?" December 25, 2009
E. Bukowsky (NY United States)
Jason Reitman has struck gold with "Up in the Air" a brilliant seriocomedy starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a man who is always on the move. Ryan's mission is to fly around the country, terminating people firmly but professionally. He tries to avoid unpleasant scenes and messy lawsuits, and Bingham is very good at what he does. He is handsome, suave, cool, and always in control. Ryan is a professional traveler who hates coming home to his bare and unprepossessing apartment. He packs very little baggage--necessities only--and is inordinately proud of the number of miles he has logged. He is firm in his determination to avoid romantic commitments, and is delighted to meet his match in Alex Goran, played by the sexy and intelligent Vera Farmiga. Alex is also a well-paid workaholic and a frequent flyer, who claims to be perfectly content with the no-strings relationship that she and Ryan enjoy.
"Up in the Air" resonates greatly during this era of high unemployment. Many companies do hire go-betweens to help them downsize their labor force. Reitman's dead-on screenplay, co-written with Sheldon Turner, captures the misery of the newly out-of-work. Many of the terminated men and women in the film are not actors, but ordinary people who have actually been fired and explain, with tears, rage, disbelief, and despair, exactly how it feels to be told that your services are no longer needed. The scenes between Ryan and the men and women whom he lets go are genuinely heartbreaking.
Adding to the movie's richness is a subplot featuring Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener, a recent hire in Ryan's firm whose bold new ideas undercut everything Ryan has worked so hard to achieve. The naïve Keener and somewhat jaded Ryan have some lively scenes in which they disagree vociferously, each one reluctant to give an inch. Another slightly less successful sequence deals a bit sentimentally with the wedding of Ryan's sister, Julie, whom he barely knows.
Reitman, the director, evokes magnificent performances from both his lead and supporting actors. Clooney plays Bingham with an edge of cynicism tempered with a touch of humanity and developing self-knowledge. Farmiga is perfect as Alex, a modern woman who can and does have it all and refuses to compromise. Keener is appealing as the twenty-three year old Natalie, who finds out the hard way that she has a great deal to learn about life. The veteran character actors J. K. Simmons and Sam Elliott are, as always, impressive in small roles. Special kudos go to the wonderful editor, Dana E. Glauberman, for the film's magnificent pacing.
"Up in the Air" has many deliciously ironic moments and some intriguing surprises. It will engage those who are disheartened by the impersonal world in which we live, a world that is increasingly ruled by Blackberry-toting, texting, twittering, and cell-phoning electronic junkies who have lost touch with reality. This is a poignant and timely movie, one of the best of 2009.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 203
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