# "Up in the Air" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020 "2009-12-04T19:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/1 "2009-12-04T19:55:05Z")
Saw a preview the other day, and just finished writing a review for a local arts zine. Excellent film – very much about today and people trying to operate in the current economy. Jason Reitman (who also did _Juno_, which I liked a lot, and _Thank You for Not Smoking_, which I haven’t seen but now will make it a point to) is wonderful at doing films in which the distinction between “comedy” and “drama” isn’t so much straddled as made irrelevant. Very funny, very true, very respectful of the situation of people getting laid off (Clooney’s character, in case you’ve missed all the promos, is a firer-for-hire). The characters are real, and don’t always act in predictable, cliched ways. Excellent script, excellent performances, excellent cinematography. On my list for one of the best films of the year. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/2 "2009-12-04T21:56:34Z")
I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I know it’s getting rave reviews but I’m try hard not to read them before I’m able to see the film myself. Am I right that it’s not scheduled to release until Christmas Day? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/3 "2009-12-04T22:35:29Z")
The commercial puts me in mind of _Lost In Translation_. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/4 "2009-12-04T23:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] I suspected this would be a good film, and hearing who the director is makes me want to see it even more. ‘‘Thank You For Not Smoking,’’ by the way, is an excellent film. We own it. [/QUOTE] That’s Thank You _For_ Smoking. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/5 "2009-12-04T23:07:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I know it’s getting rave reviews but I’m try hard not to read them before I’m able to see the film myself. Am I right that it’s not scheduled to release until Christmas Day? Opening today in Philly, dunno about other markets. And I’m with you on hating spoilers in reviews – I always avoid them in the ones I write. **angelic smiley** Seriously, that’s one reason I’m such a fan of the ones in _Entertainment Weekly_ (which gave this an A, BTW) – they make it clear whether the movie is worth seeing, and why, without giving away anything that will spoil my enjoyment of watching the story unfold. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/6 "2009-12-05T02:06:12Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > _Thank You for [del]Not[/del] Smoking_, which I haven’t seen but now will make it a point to. Strongly recommend seeing it, **twickster** - it’s a very good movie. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/7 "2009-12-05T02:41:58Z")
Oops, yeah, I knew that. (Actually, I read the book the film was based on and liked it quite a bit, which was one of the reasons I didn’t see the film … movies of books I like rarely satisfy and often piss me off.) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/8 "2009-12-08T07:50:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The commercial puts me in mind of _Lost In Translation_. Huh? I…well…huh? That’s like saying the trailer for Michael Clayton puts me in mind of, I don’t know, Juno. Two totally different films about totally different things, that have nothing in common other than they both have actors and props in them. I’m completely baffled. And Twickster, I’m with you. One of the year’s best films. There’s a lot more to it than just what the trailer shows. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a player at the Academy Awards, with Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Kendrick) nominations almost a given. I don’t know if it would win anything, there’s going to be fierce competition, but it IS an honor just to be nominated. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/9 "2010-01-02T19:25:55Z")
Just wondering if anyone has seen the movie [Up In The Air](http://www.theupintheairmovie.com/?gclid=COfq04e2hp8CFR8RagodTXZyuA). We went yesterday and liked the film a lot - it is part comedy, part drama and also a nice slice of life as a good snapshot of today’s economy. Clooney was excellent and the story doesn’t go exactly where you think it is heading - the ending is not at all what most people might expect. There is a lot of “Oscar buzz” about this film and I can see where it could be nominated in a few categories. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/10 "2010-01-02T20:01:38Z")
**DMark** – I merged your OP into the existing thread. (Yeah, impossible to search for with a title like that, unless you knew the thread was there, which I did, as the OP. :p) Agree, excellent film, worthy of the buzz its been getting. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/11 "2010-01-03T07:29:52Z")
It’s a very good film, but I’d say its good, not great. The acting was wonderful and it was at times very serious and other times very funny and had a good message about the importance of other people, but for some reason I just found something to be missing. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/12 "2010-01-03T07:42:25Z")
I went in with high hopes, and I have to say I honestly didn’t care for it. To me it seemed like it wanted to have it both ways - it was a Major Hollywood Movie trying to adopt an indie sensibility, but it didn’t work because it was still a Major Hollywood Movie. The whol rom-com fake-out/non-traditional Hollywood ending even seemed gimmicky, which was the opposite of the effect it was going for. I can’t really put into words why I found it so annoying, but I don’t think it was anywhere near as deep as the director/screenwriter thought it was, and though there was a good movie in there, this wasn’t it, IMO. I also got tired of being beaten over the head with the whole “he’s made himself isolated from the rest of humanity” thing; it was established in the first 3 minutes, and they could have easily taken it as a starting point to tell an interesting story rather than reiterating it ad nauseum. Technically well made and acted, I will say. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/13 "2010-01-03T08:31:28Z")
This is a very good movie that came along at exactly the right time. The ending takes a few turns toward the cliche, which is too bad, but Clooney is great and especially through the first half, the story is very interesting and you want to see where it’s going. I can see why **Tom Tildrum** sees a resemblance to _Lost in Translation_ from the commercials. You might get the sense the movies have a similar tone, but they don’t. And it’s true that travel is important in both movies and each tells a story about a wry middle-aged man who is adrift and away from home. If you summed up _Lost in Translation_ that way you’d have a pretty good idea of what the movie is about, but if you said that about _Up in the Air_ you’d be missing something. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/14 "2010-01-03T13:32:34Z")
I liked it, especially the middle act when Clooney and Kendrick are on the road. To me, the only thing that felt indie was the soundtrack–this is a George Clooney Hollywood movie that happens to be, IMHO, darn good. He and Vera Farmiga had great chemistry, but I especially enjoyed the interaction between Clooney and Kendrick, with the beginning of a shift in Clooney’s character. I did see the ending coming, but that and any possible plot hole associated with it did not diminish my enjoyment. I was mightily entertained. It was one of my favorite films in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/15 "2010-01-03T16:54:27Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > It’s a very good film, but I’d say its good, not great. The acting was wonderful and it was at times very serious and other times very funny and had a good message about the importance of other people, but for some reason I just found something to be missing. I had the same take. It was a good, enjoyable film, but not really worthy of the awards buzz it’s getting. Sadly, I have a feeling Oscar voters will get behind it because they think it’s an “Important” film (just because of the way it deals with the Big Issue of unemployment). ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/16 "2010-01-03T17:46:06Z")
Haven’t seen it yet, **twicks**. (We tend to wait for the video these days), but I saw Ray Romano on Letterman a few nights ago, plugging his “dramedy”, shown on TNT, called Men of A Certain Age. If you liked “Up In The Air”, you might like this one, too. (It has Scott Bakula in it - one of the few men D would leave me for; the other being Richard Dean Anderson!:rolleyes:) Q ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/17 "2010-01-04T16:01:31Z")
I finally saw it. Clooney was great, and Kendrick is a major find. She was a cute bit player in _Twilight_, but she showed major acting chops in this movie. The plot was pleasantly unpredictable and plausibly intelligent most of the way. There were some touches that pulled me out of the movie: Clooney changing his mind _right_ in the middle of the speech to the big audience and immediately running away. The brother-in-law opening up to Clooney, who’s largely a stranger. Just so I’m clear, Clooney’s firm only does termination and exit counseling, right? That is, they’re not the management consultants who come in and _decide_ who to fire. For _Office Space_ fans, they’re not the Bobs, are they? > [@Marley23](#): > > I can see why **Tom Tildrum** sees a resemblance to _Lost in Translation_ from the commercials. You might get the sense the movies have a similar tone, but they don’t. And it’s true that travel is important in both movies and each tells a story about a wry middle-aged man who is adrift and away from home. If you summed up _Lost in Translation_ that way you’d have a pretty good idea of what the movie is about, but if you said that about _Up in the Air_ you’d be missing something. Yup. It looked like “alienated, rootless, older man finds affirmation in quasi-relationship with young woman.” > [@Equipoise](#): > > Huh? I…well…huh? That’s like saying the trailer for Michael Clayton puts me in mind of, I don’t know, Juno. Two totally different films about totally different things, that have nothing in common other than they both have actors and props in them. I’m completely baffled. Maybe we saw different trailers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/18 "2010-01-04T17:32:57Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I finally saw it. Clooney was great, and Kendrick is a major find. She was a cute bit player in _Twilight_, but she showed major acting chops in this movie. The plot was pleasantly unpredictable and plausibly intelligent most of the way. There were some touches that pulled me out of the movie: > > Clooney changing his mind _right_ in the middle of the speech to the big audience and immediately running away. The brother-in-law opening up to Clooney, who’s largely a stranger. Yeah, the first of those more than the second, though I see your point completely on the second. The whole subplot of the first, though, was not up to the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/19 "2010-01-04T18:25:47Z")
This movie has me torn. On the one hand, this is what the average movie should be like. Intelligent, witty yet serious, about a pressing issue, good acting, no bodily fluids or car chases. On the other hand, the movie wasn’t especially deep, the subplot heavy-handedly hit what we already knew, and in the current economic situation the ending made no sense at all. A really good everyday movie but nothing more. Yet there aren’t that many movies for adults out there. By comparison, a movie with those virtues has to seem like an awards contender because the competition is so weak. That shouldn’t be. In a total coincidence, my wife and I happened to watch _An Education_ the day before we saw _Up in the Air_. _An Education_ is superficially the same film, intelligent, witty yet serious, good acting, a movie for adults. And in both movies the youngest character has a long monologue asking What’s the Purpose? Why go to school and get a job and settle down and be boring all your life only to die unfulfilled? And in both movies the main character has an affair with a mysterious other who share the same secret. The big difference, IMO, is that _An Education_ has a much weaker script and much poorer characterization. Yet the dearth of intelligent adult movies is so great that this weak movie is being stuck into top ten lists. Is _Up in the Air_ enjoyable? Certainly. Is it a good movie? Compared to what? Compared to most of the others we saw in 2009, yes. Compared to _The Hurt Locker_ or _District 9_, no. Those are better movies. But they aren’t movies about us here in the U.S. today leading our ordinary lives. We need movies, good movies, on those. I’ll take more _Up in the Air’s_, even if they aren’t great, because they are at least good. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020/20 "2010-01-04T18:52:50Z")
Exapno, I think you’ve hit on it. It’s a marvelously good little movie for grown-ups. I was a little surprised to hear that it’s getting Oscar-buzz; it’s only extraordinary when compared to the massive amount of dreck that’s clogging up the cineplexes. On another topic: I think this would make a wonderful double-feature with It Happened One Night. IHON still holds up as entertainment, 75 years after it’s release; but I also love it as a museum piece. This is how people traveled in the 1930’s – how buses and bus stations looked, how the roads looked, how motels looked. In 75 years we may see Up In The Air in the same way: good entertainment, and also a snapshot of travel in the 2000’s: airplanes, airports (people in the future are going to be really puzzled as to why we had to take off our shoes), hotels and room keys. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-in-the-air/520020.md?page=2)