Sizing up a film about downsizing
January 7, 2010Jon Brooks Comments Off
Seen the movie Up in the Air? It’s about a guy (if you can call George Clooney just a “guy”) who works for a company that hires out its professional downsizers to firms who are conducting layoffs. These axe pros then give the workers the bad news, absorbing for the bosses their angry, bitter, and panicked reactions. Interviews with real laid-off employees are interspersed throughout.
Critics are touting the film as Oscar material. But what do audiences and non-professional reviewers think? We looked at Yahoo! Movies and Rotten Tomatoes. A solid majority of viewers liked the movie (myself included), but some of the most interesting assessments are negative, so those are probably over-represented here.
(H)ere is at least part of the problem: it is such breezy fun that it becomes apparent that the filmmakers had absolutely no idea that they were telling a story which pisses right in the eye of the huge proportion of the American workforce that is currently unemployed. Maybe I’m just extra-sensitive, being part of that number. We’re going to call that my full disclosure for the review.
Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, who fires people for a living. His company, CTC, is in the business to send representatives across the country to deal with the unpleasant task of letting people know that their services are no longer required by their employer, usually doing this to a great many individuals all at once; Bingham is extremely good at his job and he likes it, not because he is some kind of emotional sadist but because he understands how to be the anchor for these people at the single worst instant of their lives. He may not be there to help them with the wreckage, but he knows how to hold their hand at the impact.
And that’s pretty much that. Having elected that this should be their scenario (the Walter Kim novel upon which the film is based, it must be noted, was published long before the current economic crisis), co-adapters Jason Reitman (who directs, as well) and Sheldon Turner can think of absolutely nothing interesting to say about a man whose job is putting people out of jobs. Oh, I take that back, there is the well-publicised little thing that Reitman did, where he filmed individuals in a number of cities talking about having just been fired, allowing them to address him as if he were the man who’d let them go – that is, allowing them to address Ryan Bingham, although he is not real, and they have really been fired. Reitman then assembled all these interviews into little montages at the beginning and end, and once somewhat earlier than midway, and I am absolutely certain that he felt that he was doing something noble and good by giving the downtrodden a voice.
Except for two things, which both reduce this very honest attempt at social commentary to the level of gimmickry, the worst kind of bad joke: first, the real people are intercut with staggeringly distracting cameos from the likes of Zach Galifianakis and J.K. Simmons; second, all three montages are used for no purpose other than to prop up a tired and altogether typical story of a man who has spent his whole adult life living alone – by his conscious choice – who just needs that special lady and a spunky truth-telling sidekick to make him realise that the only thing which can make you happy is to surround yourself with loved ones, and especially, to get married. The movie’s twisty ending I will not spoil, other than to say that it is a hideous violation of character logic, and carries this “marry or you will never stop suffering” theme to absurdly tragic heights.
With interviews with real laid off workers sprinkled throughout, and the threat of unemployment looming, the movie tells the story of a man learning to value more than the frequent flier miles he’s accrued and the various advantage points he’s saved at chains like Hertz and Hilton. It’s about breaking free from the corporate system, celebrating the freedom to act spontaneously and daring to reach out to others, no matter how messy things might get.
Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a consultant whose job it is to fire people. Since his job forces him to travel to one economically devastated area of the country to another, he is in airplanes much of the time. But the title “Up in the Air” also refers to his inability to make a commitment to women. Poor thing.
Bingham is assigned to work with a much younger new hire named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who believes that the firing can be done over a computer equipped with cameras on each end. Much of the film consists of the two vultures wrangling with each other over which method is more effective. You can’t make this shit up.
If you’ve heard, by the way, that this movie is about the plight of the unemployed, don’t believe a word of it. It has as much to do with this as an episode of Saturday Night Live. Reitman majored in English/Creative Writing at University of Southern California, a department that would be about as useful for writing about such social problems as it would be for understanding advanced calculus.
It turns out that (director) Jason Reitman has a variegated career. At one point he formed a production company to make “small subversive comedy”. Small I agree with; subversive I do not. In 2007, Reitman produced and directed holiday season commercials for Wal-Mart with advertising agency Bernstein-Rein. He has also directed ads for Burger King, Nintendo, BMW, and Buick, we learn from his wiki. Some subversive.
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From Yahoo! Movies (cumulative user grade: B+)It’s an entertaining film but, at the same time, depressing to those of us who have been “downsized” in real life. Mr. Reitman acknowledges the terminated by having real people play many of the employees fired in the film. The story itself takes some unexpected twists and turns but has much to say about corporate America in our current climate and the digital age.
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“Up In The Air” is a serious film discussing the challenges of coping and struggling with the power of corporate lures in the poor economic climate. Expressions and meaningful phrases once used as uniting clarion blasts are now catchphrases and jingoisms used in ads to rally the masses to the market to buy the latest gadget and live this brightly lit fantasy that exists only through an addiction. Pressures to keep up are enormous; to be loyal to your family or to the corporate belief. Loyal to shiny objects or loyal to your community and household. A serious look at what motivates us. Self esteem is printed on a shiny plastic Perk Card with fancy name and when we dig down to search for its meaning we find nothing there.Shot in the manner of flipping through post cards almost in a documentary style and told with humor by screen writer/director Jason Reitman the story does not miss a beat. This is a brilliantly told love story with a brilliant cast. Clooney shares the stage well with Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick and they are all magnificent. This story was taken from the novel “Up In The Air” by Walter Kirn.
If you’ve never been fired from a job, go see this film. If you have been fired before, go see this film.
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I am a human resources professional who has had to lay off, downsize, and let people go, so I could relate to some of George Clooney’s job. The reactions of all the employees are completely realistic and sad. Having said that, I thought the movie had a lot of really funny scenes and witty dialogue. I enjoyed the plot, the acting, and the pace of it – all the way up to the end. The ending was anti-climatic and a let down.
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The people who think is overrated are the ones that interest me. I’m not sure what it is but here are my thoughts:They need action not a movie about something
Too close to home and too much of a commentary on what’s really happening in the US right now.
It shows the dark side of capitalism, and maybe that’s too close to home.
Perhaps it’s seen as an indictment of our economy and culture and people don’t like that.
People who are conservative associate Clooney with liberalism and so they don’t like him and his movies.
People don’t like movies that cause them to reflect on the uncomfortable and difficult parts of life.
Too young to appreciate what it’s like to not have your whole life in front of you and what it might mean to lose a job.
My guess is that if none of these characteristics fit you, then you’ll probably enjoy the movie, but there’s no accounting for taste.
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This is the best acting I’ve seen from Clooney probably since Syriana. It is a heartbreaking movie; not a comedy really or even a cheap rom-com. It is about disassociation from commitment and feeling at ease with being lonely. And that isn’t just with Clooney’s character; all characters experience this and the corporation even try to “dehumanize” the act of firing someone. I can relate because I, myself, am a recent laid off worker. And there is so much chemistry not only between Farmiga and Clooney, but with him and the young Kendrick too. Just a well done movie all around.
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Having held the role of corporate “axe-man,” this is extremely true to life. The travel scenes and termination meetings are very authentic. The drive for lower-cost (in our case, by phone) is also very well-done.
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This is a poor choice for a movie, in these economic times! The major character is a “head chopper” for businesses too chicken to fire their employees. While played well, the character is not one anyone would want to emulate. Alone and basically unprincipled the chopper travels across America lopping people from their jobs….Don’t waste time or money on this. it’s gloomy,uncomfortable, and lacking in any quality.
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The ads for this movie, which have seen extensive airplay on many networks, make this appear to be a comedy. In fact, this is a depressing movie where you get to watch the reactions of middle aged and older people as they are informed by a complete stranger that they are getting laid off from their jobs. No comedy involved, no attempts at being amusing. Only fear, anger and tragedy in their faces and reactions. Then you get to watch the lead character realize that his life is empty, lonely and meaningless, and will most likely stay empty, lonely and meaningless. That’s essentially the entire movie. The writing is realistic and the acting is good, which makes the situations even more depressing. If you are one of the millions of people who lost their jobs in the last few years, or know people who have lost their jobs, or whose jobs may be in jeopardy right now, I would strongly suggest that you find a different movie. This is a depressing movie.
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Based on the plot, wild horses couldn’t drag me to this movie. What was Hollywood thinking to release a movie with this theme over the holidays when there are so many people who are actually unemployed or worrying about their own jobs? I understand the movie even has a montage of real unemployed persons. The last thing I want to see is a debonair, bordering-on-arrogant person, going around as a hatchet man.
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Those of us who have not been laid off sympathize with Clooney’s character. The ones on the other side…just how can u sympathize with someone who gets paid top dollar to send you to the food stamps? Come on, telling a 50 something year old to go chase an old dream of a culinary career for the sake of his kids? It smell bad even for a last straw. Might as well get machines to do this dirty job – it is somehow more dignified…
