Up In The Air - harshly realistic, and totally captivating

Up In The Air got lots of Oscar hype when it came out. Many of us want to think that if it's getting all this hype, then it should be one of the best movies we've ever seen. Well, this movie isn't one of the best movies I've ever seen, but I will say that it touched me in a way that not many movies have ever touched me, and I think it did that for many, and in my humble opinion, that, boys and girls, is why it got the hype that it did.

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham. A man who's job is to fire people from theirs. Ryan is flying around the US over 320 days of the year, which he feels is the best part of his job. He does whatever he can to rack up frequent flyer miles, the goal not to use them but just to accumulate them to a specific number he has in his mind. A secondary job he has is to give motivational speeches on relieving one's life of excess physical and emotional baggage. Basically, how being alone is the best thing for you. He truly does believe what he preaches as he lives out of his carry-on suitcase , he is not close to his siblings (although he does do a favor for his sister while on his travels), nor does he have or want a significant person in his life. His boss (Jason Bateman) hires a young overachieving woman named Natalie (Anna Kendrick), who develops a method of video conferencing that will firings without ever leaving the home office - essentially threatening the existence Ryan so cherishes. Determined to show the Natalie the error of her logic, Ryan takes her on one of his cross country firing expeditions, but as she starts to realize the disheartening realities of her profession, he begins to see the downfalls to his way of life when he falls for a fellow traveler named Alex (Vera Farmiga). Both Ryan and Natalie grow up, Ryan seeing that maybe emotional connections are good, and Natalie realizing that there is something to being a compassionate person.

This movie a slow moving, drama. Yes there are some comedic bits, but for the most part, it's serious. The movie is incredibly poignant in today's economic environment. But more importantly than the social commentary that the movie makes is the human relationships that are formed. It's not all good, there is some good, some bad. Everyone is a gray area. Just like everyone of us.

Clooney plays his usual suave, cocky self, but he is able to play the man who is losing some of that confidence in his way of life and his belief system so well that you forget all the "bad" he has done. He goes from thinking he is compassionate, to actually being so. Farmiga (The Departed, Orphan, Joshua) is okay, her character is less about who she is but what she brings about in Clooney's. SHe's almost a girl Clooney, without the transformation. The one who really brings it is Anna Kendrick. She's "best" known for being Bella's best friend (human) in the Twilight movies. Yeah, I know this, sue me. But she is the heart of the film. She's an annoying, overachieving type-A bitch. In the beginning. And then becomes the one who you just want to hug in the end.

This movie doesn't have a "happy" ending. It doesn't have a huge, exciting climax. Everything is extremely subtle and subdued, but it works. You feel it all. You feel sad, disappointed, unsatisfied, but you also feel warmed, happy, hopeful. This isn't some Nicholas Sparks story, its real. Not everything ends happily ever after, but it can end happier than it started, or at least can lead to some happiness for the characters, in the future, after the credits roll.

I highly recommend this one. If you go into it, knowing what you now know, I think all of you will find yourself thinking about it weeks after you see it. I know I am.