Movie Review: "Up In The Air"
Right now you are probably asking yourself; Why is a credit card blogger writing a movie review? The answer is that the plot of this movie revolves around one man’s quest for frequent flier miles and other loyalty points.
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a road warrior who is employed as a “termination consultant”. He travels around the country conducting interviews with his client’s employees in order to inform them that they are being fired. There are three main themes to this movie, and they each evolve at their own pace as we watch Clooney jet about the country.
The Lifestyle of the Road Warrior
This movie initially attracted my attention when members of the FlyerTalk forum informally dubbed it “The FlyerTalk Movie”. Indeed, it seems clear that the director likely spent some time studying the habits and rituals of America’s most frequent business travelers. The opening scenes show Clooney preparing his luggage and going through the TSA checkpoint with all the precision of Marine Corps drill. Early in the movie, he meets his love interest, fellow Road Warrior Alex Goran, played by actress Vera Farmiga. In a memorable scene, they each compare their credit cards along with various airline, hotel, and rental car loyalty program cards. His American Airlines Citibank Mastercard is shown, Alex is clearly turned on by Ryan’s exalted status in so many loyalty programs. Needless to say, your results may vary.
For Ryan, the status is the goal, and at no point does he seem to be interested in redeeming rewards for his own benefit. This mirrors the behavior of other Road Warriors that I have met. They travel so much for business, that they really aren’t interested in leisure travel. Throughout the travel scenes, American Airlines aircraft and logos are ubiquitous, and they likely paid to be included so prominently. American comes through for Ryan with shining stars, as there are no mechanical delays, weather delays, or psychotic flight attendants. Ryan is never seen traveling in coach either, always in business or first. As far as the audience is concerned, flying is a carefree pleasure.
There are memorable scenes where Ryan introduces a new co-worker to the time tested techniques for quickly interacting with airlines, hotels, rental cars and even the TSA. If you are a frequent traveler, you can immediately identify with him, otherwise you will identify with his less traveled co-worker.
Man’s Relationship To His World
Who are you without a place you call home? What are the implications of being surrounded by people with whom you can only have a fleeting connection? Can a person be happy without permanent relationships? To some, the answers may be obvious, but to Clooney’s character, relationships are just unnecessary baggage. Alex, his love interest, appears to be his female counterpart, while his co-worker, the young Natalie Keener played by Twighlight’s Anna Kendrick, is the proponent of the happily ever after scenario of love and marriage. Without going too much into their romantic entanglements, I can say that both my wife and I enjoyed the romantic comedy aspect of this subplot.
A Movie For Our Times
Ryan is in the business of delivering the news that you have been laid off. It is devastating and disorienting to learn that through no fault of your own, you have lost your job. It is emotionally challenging to deliver this news repeatedly, as the characters rationalize that they are really just setting fired employees free to pursue their true callings. There is no doubt that the director was acutely aware that our country is facing the worst economic climate since the depression. In some cities, like Detroit, conditions could be described as akin to a depression. I did note that the time line of the movie takes place thoughout the winter of 2010, a recognition that next year will be a difficult year for so many in this country.
In this environment, it is the Natalie and her boss Craig Gregory, played by Jason Bateman, who come up with the cost saving scheme to fire employees by teleconference. Surely, if it is efficient to hire a company to fire your employees, it is even more cost effective to do so remotely with a talking head on an LCD screen, right?
In Conclusion
When I first heard rumors of this movie on FlyerTalk and other travel sites, I feared that this movie would light fare consisting be two hours of mayhem at business lounges and TSA checkpoints. Later, when I heard that the movie was well received by critics, I began to suspect that there was something more to this film. This is a movie to be enjoyed on many levels, not one that can be merely labeled “romantic comedy”, “anti-corporate farce”, or even “The FlyerTalk Movie”. This is a movie about the human condition in our country at this time, set against the backdrop it’s vast landscape.
