The Journey with Jesus: Film Reviews
Film Reviews by Dan Clendenin
Up in the Air (2009)
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) spends 322 days a year on the road and "forty-three miserable days at home" as an employment terminator. He fires people for a living. His greatest aspiration is to amass ten million frequent flyer miles. He's mastered the corporate jargon of his script, is both pastoral and impassive with the people he fires, glides with ease from Topeka to Saint Louis and beyond, and of course has no life at all, not even time or love enough to attend his sister's wedding. Bingham says he likes his life, and at first we believe him, and even envy his elite airport status. But in two exceptionally strong supporting roles, two very different women enter his life. Then his own company decides to fire people by remote video conferencing, making his own profession and person obsolete. Bingham is thus yanked back to reality. The plot of this film is simple and predictable, but it still works as a vicious satire about corporate America and its dehumanizing powers. Up in the Air has been nominated for at least six Golden Globe awards.