Up In the Air

Directed By: Jason Reitman

Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farminga, Jason Bateman

I love movies like this. Movies where the characters actually talk like real people, actually respond and act with honesty and unscripted nuances rather than varnished cliches. In one scene, Clooney's character, Ryan Bingham, wakes up in bed to find the other side empty and his love interest getting ready to split. Even if you have not experienced this moment before, you still feel that sinking feeling in your stomach when you see it happen on screen, and it has become a painful, if over-used, scene. Alex Goran (Farminga) gives Bingham a look of mock sympathy and jokes, "Oh, I made you feel cheap." We were all thinking it. Finally someone said it. This is how the movie separates itself, by greeting cliches with biting and witty one-liners. Those of you who enjoyed the quirk and intelligence of Juno will enjoy this film by the same director.

The film stars George Clooney, who operates with his classic, Cary Grant-esque charm and aloofness, and is so natural in his portrayal that he adds a beautiful level of realism that only contributes to the humor and heartbreak of the story. Anna Kendrick plays Natalie Keener, his new colleague and a recent college graduate who is arrogant, straight-edged, and ready to wrench Clooney's company into an age where everything is done in front of a computer screen, from the comforts of your desk. Kendrick's performance flirts with caricature at times, but in the end she does a good job of filling out her character with enough complexity and surprises to keep her real.

Up in the Air is an incisive look at the state of our culture in the context of the recession and an age of executive club card holders, skype, frequent flier miles, and a strange time when it's no longer just recent graduates who feel lost, but also the many who are being laid off from jobs they've inhabited for 20 years, or those who find their lives transforming as a layer of technology settles over the way they've always done things. This is a film anyone can relate to, and it does exactly what films are supposed to do: It provides a smart, touching, and humorous perspective on our current times, helping us to see our situation in a new light, and feel just how much we all share.