The story of firing people for a living – and ways of living life, alone or with others – Up In The Air is driven by excellent, smart dialogue, spoken by excellent, smart actors. As the ‘career transition counsellor’ George Clooney is just as you’d expect him to be, so the news is that Vera Farmiga (his detached, female equivalent) and Anna Kendrick (his modernising young colleague) are more than a match for his sparky repartee – and so it’s in the dialogue between these three, especially with all three at once, that the film really takes off.
You completely forget about everything else. There is nothing else, just these people being witty and intelligent, but not witty and intelligent in a way that’s informed by anything other than their life experience. The lines are sharp and appropriate, and it’s a pleasure to watch.
So important are the actors to the movie that Zach Galifianakis, the John Goodman-style figure from The Hangover, gets a full credit in the intro despite only being in the first five minutes. Galifianakis appears in a mildly incongruous comedy turn that eases you into the film, letting the viewer know that what’s to come won’t be solely about wallowing in jobless-induced misery.
The ending, though, feels like a cop out, like when Oliver Stone drifts off at the end of Wall Street. It could leave you feeling empty. The seed of this emptiness is sown in attempting to reform Clooney’s isolated frequent flier in the first place, but you could, of course, argue that emptiness is rather the point of the film. But that feels way too easy, considering the intelligence of what comes earlier on. It should have been better.
Either way, you’ll end up enjoying the dialogue and the performances more than the plot, which is why all three stars (and the screenplay) have Oscar nominations.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 