Up in the Air

Count me among those for whom George Clooney is the new Cary Grant – he dignifies and dapperizes whatever he’s in (though one Ocean movie was more than enough for me). But here he has a vehicle that keeps him aloft and grounded at the same time. Jason Reitman’s snappy adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel kicks off with a perfect mood-setting title sequence, with descending plane’s-eye views of cities and countryside set to a bluesy version of “This Land is My Land.” Clooney lives in airplanes, airports, and hotels – and loves it – as he jets from city to city on contract to fire people. Traveling light is for him not just a strategy, but a philosophy of life. In motivational speeches, he advises people to “empty their backpacks” of any attachment to things or people. Then two women come into his life, a go-go recent business grad (played deliciously by Anna Kendrick) with a scheme to take him and his ilk off the road and do the company’s firing over the Internet, and a sultry fellow traveler (played beyond deliciously by Vera Farmiga), who have him forming attachments he never anticipated. The film follows some rom-com conventions, but is ultimately subversive and grounded in the mood of this recessionary moment, as Clooney comes down to earth in a highly-debatable denouement likely to spark post-film discussion. I liked this film so much I wanted to give it an *8*, but it is certainly not a better film than A Serious Man or Summer Hours, so I guess that calls my numerical rating system into question. Anyway, it’s a recommendation with a little extra oomph. (2009, Beacon.) *7+* (MC-83)