Directed by: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Jason Bateman, Anna Kendrick, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey
Rating: R

George Clooney and Vera Farmiga star in Up In the Air. (Courtesy photo)

This year’s winner in the “They still make them like they used to” category is Up in the Air. Adapted from Walter Kirn’s novel by Sheldon Turner and director Jason Reitman, Up in the Air is the kind of dramatic comedy Billy Wilder used to make.

George Clooney is Ryan Bingham, a man who has so completely removed himself from friends and family through constant air travel that he thinks he has simplified his life to an art form. What he doesn’t realize is how badly he craves contact. The message is not sophisticated. In fact, Ryan’s need and the journey he’ll take are pretty apparent from the start. How he gets there is the illuminating part.

Ryan Bingham is a Career Transition Counselor. In other words, he gets hired by wimpy bosses to fire people. It’s a brutal job, but Ryan is so practiced at it he’s often able to leave his victims with a sense of dignity and purpose. Ryan tells us that last year he spent 322 days on the road. He has so perfected his streamlined lifestyle that he even offers a seminar called “What’s In Your Backpack?”. Ryan meets his female counterpart, Alex Gordon (Vera Farmiga), a sexy constant traveler who is as intoxicated by the perks of frequent travel as he is. They begin an irregular, pressure-free romance based on when their itineraries cross. This is also when Ryan’s boss (Jason Bateman) brings in fresh-faced Natalie (Anna Kendrick) to present her plan to make all firings via computer screen. If her remote layoff system gets implemented, it means no more travel for Ryan. First Ryan will take Natalie on the road to show her the ropes.

There’s a nice subplot about whether Ryan will go to his younger sister’s wedding. It turns out the only family he’s got are his two sisters (Amy Morton and Melanie Lynskey), and they consider him something of a ghost. When Ryan agrees to go, he makes the first big break from his lifestyle and asks Alex to join him. The movie is filled with good scenes, but these are the best. And just when the film threatens to become too pat, it takes a sharp turn into reality.

As good as Up in the Air is—and it’s really good—Reitman and Turner do cut some corners to service their ideas. Ryan’s seminar is clearly nothing more than the two-minute speech we hear; its real purpose is to pack a lot of character description into a small space of time. And it’s frustrating to watch Natalie learn what we already know: that firing someone can be very painful. Ryan and Natalie fall into the Hollywood trope of transforming from fake to real. Thanks to strong writing and stronger performances, the transformations are more convincing than, say, Greg Kinnear’s in Little Miss Sunshine, or Kevin Spacey’s in American Beauty.

It’s not his fault, but George Clooney is too good-looking to play certain roles. That’s almost the case here, but Clooney commits himself so completely to the part that we get the sense we’re not just seeing Ryan at his most vulnerable, we’re seeing the closest thing to Clooney himself. It’s another fine piece of work. Vera Farmiga should find herself rightfully in the select group of actresses sharing the few great women’s roles handed out each year. Farmiga brings a heap of intelligence to the casually sexy Alex, making her all the more appealing. Anna Kendrick holds her own against the two veterans, bringing a sharp comic intensity to her role. The three make a memorable trio.

So-called grown-up movies are hard to make, and harder still to make commercially successful. Few are getting produced these days. And those that are—Revolutionary Road, The Soloist—simply haven’t been strong enough to draw discerning viewers. Up in the Air is an encouraging success, and shows maturity on the part of Jason Reitman. His 2007 hit Juno was an enjoyable, if overly celebrated, amalgam of other directing styles. In this film, Reitman finds his own style. 2009 was a good year, filled with above-average movies, if low on true gems. Up in the Air isn’t perfect, but it’s easily the best grown-up movie of that year.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard readers for many years.