It is a rare feat for a movie to truly define its time period by depicting the way people live today.  Jason Reitman tries to do so with Up In The Air, but only the strain shows.  Like Reitman’s adaptation of Thank You For Smoking, the film takes the approach of following a charming asshole to humanize contemporary societal ills.  I found the effect in Smoking to be completely tiresome. 

Up In The Air soars intermittently, due primarily to the star wattage of George Clooney, as a constantly-traveling hatchet man, who relishes and excels at his role of firing employees for executives who aren’t comfortable wielding the ax from within.  Clooney makes it easy to root for the villain, especially when his shallow lifestyle is called into question by a brilliant, but green, colleague (Anna Kendrick) assigned to shadow the master.  Along the way, he engages in a soul-less romance with fellow constant traveler Vera Farmigia.  The lessons to be learned are on the itinerary.  There are things the movie gets right like a Vegas convention and the perfectly character-appropriate text flirtation, but these moments, though wonderful, are insignificant.

The mismatched mentor-rookie story is a common contrivance, but I swear that Up In The Air takes numerous cues from Bull Durham.  Clooney is Costner, lovable yet a jerk, aging but smoldering, who teaches a future industry star the ropes.  Clooney’s meaningless goal of 10 million air miles is Costner’s minor league homer record.  The carefree sexual relationship with a contemporary (Farmigia is Sarandon) becomes our hero’s first stab at true love.  A scene in which the women explain their ideal husband even mirrors Costner’s “I believe in the soul” speech.

For all my problems with Up In The Air, I’ll admit that it doesn’t offer easy solutions.  Still, it’s hard to feel for the insertions of real downsized people (interviewed in the film and singing a song over the end credits), amidst a steady stream of product placement for big airlines, car rental companies, etc.  Perhaps it’s Reitman’s economic stimulus.  As the award season heats up, I guess I finally have a film to root against.  And while this week’s Golden Globes and I don’t agree on everything, at least I can concur that, based on the film’s Best Dramatic Film nomination, Air is not a comedy.  I, a laugher, did so only once.

–Pops Corn