This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 11, 2009 - Jason Reitman, a talented director, makes entertaining satirical movies about tough subjects, subjects that would seem to be prime material for black comedy or even tragedy -- the cigarette lobby in "Thank You for Smoking," teenage pregnancy in "Juno," and now the human effect of our country's massive loss of jobs in "Up in the Air." But Reitman, whose father, Ivan, directed "Ghostbusters," grew up in Hollywood, metaphorically at least, and he never ventures too far from home.
Reitman's comedies may push the boundary between crowd-pleasing mainstream movies and edgier, riskier independent productions, but they never quite break through. It's as if he doesn't want the audience to feel too much pain; yet pain is the essence of satire. With the best satire, from "Dr. Strangelove" to "A Serious Man," you laugh to keep from crying.
Perhaps wishing that Reitman would honor his weighty subject matter more by making weightier films is presumptuous and even unfair. The man makes good, enjoyable movies and "Up in the Air," a funny movie about a serious subject, is probably his best - and edgiest -- so far. I just wish it hurt a little more.
In "Up in the Air," based on a novel by Walter Kim, George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, who fires people for a living. He spends most of his life in airplanes, airports and hotels, going from city to city to deliver the bad news. (Much of the movie was filmed at Lambert airport and elsewhere in St. Louis.) Ryan's apartment in Omaha, headquarters of the corporate downsizing firm he works for, looks unoccupied because he's almost never there. His philosophy of life is expressed in a self-help speech he gives from time to time at business conventions:
"The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks."
Bingham is distant from his family, and friendship appears to consist of romantic encounters with fellow travelers. In a hotel bar, he meets a smart, pretty woman named Alex (Vera Farmiga), and after the two have compared credit cards and frequent flyer miles, they end up in bed together.
Still in their underwear, they get up to check their laptops and their iPhones. They agree to stay in touch and, no strings attached, meet again at some other mutual port of call. What could be better for a man who likes to think of himself as a shark, always feeding, always on the move, than a like-minded woman?
Well, of course, Ryan isn't really a shark. He finds himself lying alone in the latest hotel bed thinking of Alex. And he becomes re-involved with his family when he has to play big brother and straighten out an emotional tangle at his sister's wedding. And he is confronted with a threat to his way of life in the person of Natalie (the estimable Anna Kendrick), a 20-something colleague dressed for success in a trim blue suit, bright and eager and ready to start climbing that corporate ladder by biting the ankles of the people just above her.
Natalie's got a great idea. Why should the downsizing firm spend millions of dollars every year sending its representatives around the country to fire people? Why not do it electronically, by teleconference?
Ryan is deeply opposed to the idea. Partly, that's because he is sufficiently empathetic to feel the pain of the people he is firing, and over the years has learned how to react to that pain and, up close and in person, offer some small measure of solace. (Needless to say, he's not empathetic enough to find some other way to make a living.) Mainly, though, he opposes doing the job by remote control because he doesn't want to stop moving. He's afraid something, or someone, will latch on to him. Besides, he's shooting for 10 million frequent flyer miles.
So. Will teleconference firing work, speeding along the steady reduction of America's middle class? Will Ryan maintain the ties he has re-established with his family? Will Ryan and Alex find that they are more than ships - well, planes - passing in the night? And what of eager young Natalie?
These questions and more are answered in an entertaining though sometimes formulaic way. The fate of Alex and Ryan is determined in a predictable scene that is duplicated in another big movie released this fall, and in countless others over the years.
Meanwhile, the movie has never come to grip with what would seem to be central questions: Is it right for a corporation to hire outsiders to come in and fire longtime trusted employees because the bosses are too embarrassed or ashamed or lacking in common decency to do it themselves? And, if a corporation really needs to cut costs, why is it paying hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to outsource the firing process? And, in general, aren't loyal employees owned some loyalty when times get tough?
On the other hand, "Up in the Air" is not a documentary. The story is well and humorously told, and the inclusion of brief interviews with real victims of downsizing, including some St. Louisans, adds poignancy to the narrative. There are some very funny moments, and some of the scenes - particularly the firing scenes - are emotionally gripping.
The three main characters - Ryan, Alex and Natalie - are all believable, interesting, three-dimensional human beings. These days, it's hard to ask for more than that from a movie with a movie star in it, although Clooney is not your usual movie star. He actually seems to choose some of his roles because he thinks the films tell stories that ought to be told. I just wish "Up in the Air" told more of it.
Opens Friday, December 11
Harper Barnes, the author of Never Been A Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked The Civil Rights Movement, has also been a long-time reviewer of movies.