Up In The Air

Up in the Air seeks comedy from two of America’s – indeed the Western world’s – most current fears: flying and redundancy Discuss this article

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Up in the Air seeks comedy from two of America’s – indeed the Western world’s – most current fears: flying and redundancy.

George Clooney is Ryan Bingham, a bachelor who derives more pleasure from the 300-plus days a year he spends travelling the country making people redundant than the 43 ‘miserable’ ones he spends at home. Bingham’s entire existence is threatened when his company hires young graduate Natalie (a fun Anna Kendrick) to reassess its operations. This preppy pipsqueak’s idea is to stop sending reps around the country and instead give clients’ employees their marching orders via a glorified version of Skype.

Bingham’s worried reaction reflects our conflicted response to the movie as a whole. We might sympathise with those clearing their desks, but the threat of not being able to tag along with Clooney for the ride feels just as critical. It’s an honest point: empathy only stretches so far.

It’s a pleasure to watch an adult American comedy that attempts to deal with the real world, however much of a fantasy it carves from it. The final announcement that even the most frequent flights of imagination have to touch down at some point is conventional and a little disappointing, but the journey is a riot while it lasts.

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