The Chocolate Review: "Up in the Air"

Once again George Clooney proves that he’s more than just a pretty face. In Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air George plays Ryan Bingham, a man who is hired (by major corporations) to fire regular everyday people like you and me from their 9 to 5’s. He spends the majority of his time in gray hotel rooms, living out of a suit case. His only human interaction comes in the form of a memorized speech that sends people home jobless, hopeless and broken. And this has been his life for probably decades.

While traveling Bingham runs into Alex (Vera Farminga), the female version of himself, at the hotel bar. They instantly click because they understand one another. They’re both on the go business persons with schedules too busy to squeeze life in. What started as a chance meeting turns into a relationship that will change Bingham’s life forever.

Natalie (Anna Kendrick) is a young and ambitious employee at Bingham’s company who proposes that instead of flying to companies around the country firing people they can stay fixed, be cost effective and conduct better business. This of course doesn’t sit well with Bingham who has spent his entire life doing one thing: traveling for business. The fear of having to stay in the apartment he barely sees and hang out with the friends he doesn’t have is overwhelming. Once Ryan and Natalie are paired together as apprentice and trainer to travel the country delivering bad news, they both discover that despite their clashing ideals, they have much to learn from one another.

Up In The Air is one man’s journey of self discovery. Through Bingham’s struggle we realize that it’s never too late to figure out what you really want to do when you grow up. Or more importantly, who you want to be. This is a man who gives seminars on avoiding any type of human attachment. He’s secluded and the philosophy he uses to keep others at bay has worked to his benefit. That’s until he gets a taste of what life could be like with human interaction, emotional attachment and most importantly…love. While he’s up in the air a world full of life unfolds below him. And for the first time in Bingham’s life, he wants in.

What’s beautiful about this film is that it tells the truth. So often film makers use every dramatic device in the book to let audiences off the hook by sending them home with a happy ending. Everyone likes to go home and imagine that the make-believe people in the movie are somewhere out there happy and better off. But that’s not life. We don’t always get what we want. We don’t always have the answers and we often make mistakes that alter the course of our entire life. Up In The Air reminds us that for better or for worse, life is what you make it. You just have to come down and join the fun.

The Chocolate Review gives Up In The Air 4 out of 5 stars for the following reasons:

• Superb acting
• Realistic ending
• Great story and theme on many levels