Up in the Air (2009)

“Never get behind people traveling with infants. I've never seen a stroller collapse in less than 20 minutes. Old people are worse. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.”

“That's racist.”

“I'm like my mother, I stereotype. It's faster.”

            Getting fired sucks. The one time I got fired from a job was over the phone. I was working in New York City for a job that I really was not into but I tried my best. I was also going through some rough shit with depression and grad school and I was not really living at home during the week when I was working in the City. I went to the place where I was staying while working in the city during the week and that night I got a call from the person I was working for telling me that I was let go. I think I was more pissed because I was exhausted and I had just spent over two hundred dollars for a monthly train pass. After being let go from that job in January I did not find another job until the middle of March. As I said that was a rough time for me. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for people who are on their own and have families.

            Up in the Air deals with a guy named Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) who is hired by companies to fire employees. That kind of job has to take balls of steel and no soul. Or it just takes an incredible amount of practice and completely removing yourself from the situation when you do it. Anyway, Ryan has been doing his job for a long time. He travels all over the country all year round firing people. He does not have any solid relationships with people including his own family.

            Ryan is called back to his company’s base for a meeting. His boss (Jason Bateman) tells them all that he has hired a new person named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) right out of college and she has a new strategy for firing people over the computer through some kind of video program. Ryan is considerably pissed because he likes to travel. He wants Natalie to see what he does so he has her tag along with him to some jobs so she can fire people face to face. Natalie breaks down after her first firing since it is a lot harder than she realized.

            At one of the hotels before he came back to base Ryan had met a woman named Alex (Vera Farmiga). They coordinate when they are going to be in the same town and meet up. For years Ryan had built up walls to not fall in love or have any ideas about settling down but that of course falls apart as soon as he meets Alex. And also from Natalie talking about wanting to get married and have a family someday.

            My brothers and some friends had been going on and on about how good a movie Up in the Air was. I wanted to see it anyway because I adore Anna Kendrick as an actress and all around human being. I honestly did not have any expectations for Up in the Air even though my brothers raved about it and I am glad I did not because I would have been totally let down. I really was not too crazy about Up in the Air. Anna Kendrick was amazing she deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The direction and writing, George Clooney, and Vera Famiga were all nominated for an Academy Award as well and for the life of me I cannot understand why. There was nothing great or outstanding about the movie or the acting (besides Kendrick) or the writing. I will say that I liked the idea how there was a company used to fire people because the bosses of other companies were not willing to do so themselves. I also liked, despite it being clichéd, how Ryan started to break down and really think about what his life was after he met Natalie and Alex. It got sad and upsetting to see the people getting fired and freaking out because I somewhat know what it is liked to be fired. I was upset because these were not people in their mid-twenties working for seventeen dollars an hour organizing a onetime event for crusty rich New Yorkers they were people with real office jobs and families. A lot of the people being fired were actual people who had been fired and were told to say what they wish they could have said when they were getting fired.

            Besides my attitude of not really liking it or understanding the big deal with it, Up in the Air is worth watching at least once