Review: UP IN THE AIR

If Tom Hanks is the modern day version of Jimmy Stewart, as he’s so popularly claimed to be, then George Clooney is his icy cool stepbrother. With all the charm and grace of Stewart, he commands a scene, drifting through roles and making them memorable sheerly by a grin. This isn’t a criticism, it’s a compliment: it’s what he’s best at, and his role as Ryan Bingham in Jason Reitman’s new film UP IN THE AIR evokes that side of him wonderfully.

As a character, Bingham embodies what Clooney is best at: a shielding grin, which protects him from the rage and tears of those he terminates as he floats around the country, releasing employees from their jobs when their employers lack the backbone to do so themselves. Bingham is a spartan minimalist, valuing miles on airplanes the way others value love and family. He has a side career of motivational speaking, in which he promotes the lifestyle of “emptying one’s backpack” and leaving the weight of people on the curb.

The challenge for Bingham comes in the form of two complications: a beautiful counterpart (more like mirror image) Alex, played by Vera Farmiga, and a spunky-bitchy young business woman Natalie Keener, who introduces a new termination system that will replace Bingham’s way of life.

I have been surrounded by Reitman’s film for quite a while now: buzz was enormously positive when the film was first screened at festivals, and it was shot in my own back yard at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. I feel a sort of attachment to the film that makes me want to love it unabashedly, as so many others seem to.

When it comes down to it, I really like, but don’t (yet) love UP IN THE AIR. The problem isn’t with Reitman, whom people are already comparing with his father Ivan to find who’s a “better” director. The way I see it, the younger Reitman has a technical artistry that rivals that of his father, while the rise and fall of Ivan’s films have always been dictated by their actors. Jason Reitman is three for three — whether you love or hate JUNO and THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, they accomplish dramatic achievements in ways that his father has never dared to.

The problem that is at least initially barring me from loving UP IN THE AIR is the iciness that penetrates the front end of the film, which is indeed the very point. While the emotional resonance of Bingham’s journey has to stem from some sense that his character must tune in to an untapped part of himself, and that is all well and good, he’s also surrounded by Alex and Natalie, who are in their own ways rigid. The problem is that the film simply stalls too long before revealing sides of these characters to fall in love with.

Which is confounding, because once that point is reached, UP IN THE AIR soars — pun absolutely intended. Clooney comes into his own, while Vera Farmiga crafts a character of depth and beauty, and Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener stands strongly beside them both. Without spoiling anything, Reitman takes a direction with the film that defies its formula and the audience’s expectations.

There is a deeper story to be told here than the first portion of the film indicates, and that is why it’s unbearably frustrating. Beneath all the hype surrounding UP IN THE AIR lays a small drama that is centered on characters that are very honest and feel very real. Comedy blends seamlessly with drama here; there is nothing played for laughs that should be played for tears and vice versa. There are characters in UP IN THE AIR that are stronger than most we’ve seen in 2009 — characters which include talking heads of real former employees, a directorial choice that some have seen as emotionally coercive on Reitman’s part. I see it as the point from which the film takes off and lands from, making it immediate and ultimately more meaningful.

And while I hesitate to love Reitman’s work as much as others have, I won’t deny that it’s the sort of film with the potential to grow on me, alongside experience and time. A testament to how emotionally salient the film is (particularly in an economic climate like this one), UP IN THE AIR’s relatability is inarguably its strongest suit.