MOVIE REVIEW: Up in the Air

By Lawrence Griffin | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air is not just a good film, not just one of the very best of the last few years, but another stake to Reitman’s claim to becoming one of the best directors in the film world. After enjoying his previous film Thank You for Smoking, which is one of my favorite movies, I was incredibly excited to see this one. It delivered with the force of an eighteen-wheel truck.

The movie, starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, revolves around the life of a travel-aholic whose job is to go around the country firing people. This is all fair and well until the two women in his life begin to shake the foundations and make him begin to reconsider his rather arbitrary lifestyle. There are many sub-plots abound, many characters to meet and many places to travel.

The main character’s (Clooney’s) job is to go around firing people. It is such an odd, bizarre thing to make a movie about, but it works; the film is a commentary on the sad state of our economy at the moment. People get laid off their jobs every day, and this film is frighteningly relevant in that regard.

By the end, when the company attempts to go digital and “ground” all of their air bound agents, we see a different side of him. This character is deeply tormented by the thought of a menial, boring life on the ground. This is a man who needs a purpose — much like the people who he fires, ironically — and who fulfills it by flying; nothing else. He seems vaguely confused and directionless in most all other aspects of his life. He is distant with his family and only really tries to repair that when his job is threatened. He is selfish and does not even seem to realize it.