If Cary Grant had played Greg House, the result may have been Ryan Bingham, the protagonist of Jason Reitman’s new film Up in the Air. Short-changed by theatrical trailers, the film explores personal development and growth in the face adverse circumstances. Despite any uninspired first impressions you may have from the generic two minute trailer, the film merits another hour and forty minutes of your time. It is a witty comedic with a serious message.
Hired by other companies who wish to terminate an employee but cannot handle the emotional and legal backlash, Bingham travels across the United States. He lives a nomadic existence and his sole purpose in life seems to be the acquisition of ten million air miles and a silver rewards card from American Airlines.
Along the way, he meets Alex, another itinerant executive with whom he shares a romantic relationship in between Blackberry Messenger posts and Natalie, a keen employee who seeks to reduce his company’s costs by grounding all of the representatives and conducting layoffs via teleconferencing. Bingham grows as the movie progresses and attending his younger sister’s wedding inspires him to settle down. He may have attained the status that he desired but it is nothing without friends and family.
Reitman makes this quasi-romantic comedy far more sophisticated than a trite film such as Sleepless in Seattle because he delves into current issues. These issues of morality are timeless and will outlast the current recession. Bingham is not only a travelling salesperson but a representative of all those who he lays off. Although his company is booming, he needs the same support of those that he lays off. When the director intersperses actual interviews with recently unemployed people, we learn that it was not their position in the workplace that defined their lives but their relationships with others.
The laconic script is excellent, pushing the dialogue to the boundary of good taste but not beyond. Bingham may begin the film by responding to every situation with droll wit but he later learns how that approach does not provide enough substance to his life. Like the wayward airplane, he encounters turbulence. Bingham offers those who are laid off a key to a new life but he should probably walk through that door and follow their examples.
The symbolism is crude, but effective: a room of empty office chairs, an office with only two people, firing a person via video-conferencing who is sitting in the next room. As he shows Natalie the ropes by taking her on a training trip, Bingham makes the new employee empty have of her life into a more efficient suitcase. Efficiency and economics may be valuable but they are not the sole purpose of life; we all need to strive for something more tangible. But no matter what happens to us, there is always another connection to be made, another flight leaving the departure gate.
The point of the sexually suggestion Blackberry messages between Ryan and Alex in Up in the Air is not teenage humour; it is symbolic for how Ryan is so disaffected and dysfunctional that this is exchange passes for a real relationship in his life. Although George Clooney’s role in Burn After Reading, a U.S. Marshall named Harry Pfarrer, is made the object of a slight sight gag when he uses sexual paraphernalia, the main purpose is the reflect how although the character has a powerful position and status, he is actually impotent.
Only one question lingers: how did Young M.C. get so old? I wonder what the spectre of Death from The Seventh Seal would say if he asked, “but can’t I still but a move?” Probably, since there are no special rules for actors, the answer would be a curt “no.” ***½