| UP IN THE AIR |
| Written by Sian Rafferty |
| Tuesday, 19 January 2010 23:34 |
 The world can generally be divided up into two types of travellers. The first type (in which I happily fit into), are the cheap-o travellers. We are the ones who take a 52 hour flight to the UK with stopovers in Melbourne, Singapore, Dubai, Hamburg and the Netherlands - just because it’s $500 cheaper. We go on standby and are inevitably squished into the middle seat between a guy with toxic B.O., and another guy with a weeping wound on his head, who spends the whole time watching ‘American Chopper’ and telling stories about his week in Thailand (- true story)... However! The second type of travellers, like my dad, are the crème de la crème of airline travel. These are the ones who may not be wealthy, but have worked out every trick to the system. They always get upgraded, no matter what - and spend their flight cushioned on chairs I can only imagine must be made of pure cloud, drinking rosy pink French champagne with diamonds at the bottom. They get their bags all personally delivered, and instantly get all the best rooms at hotels. These are not privileges you can be born into, you have to earn them - and ‘UP IN THE AIR’, the new film by ‘Thank You For Smoking’ Director Jason Reitman, is a witty comedy looking at these millionaires of air point travel.  Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a handsome commitment-phobe who can’t commit to one city, let alone a family, or even a girlfriend. Bingham travels around the country, hiring himself out to employers who can’t fire their employees themselves. He never settles but lives the good life courtesy of his gold loyalty cards. Yet when he is forced to take Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) a firecracker youngster fresh out of college, on the road with him - trouble ensues; as Keener attempts to convince Bingham’s boss, she could do his job for half the price over the internet.  It’s snappy, shot by shot look at the American dream. Anna Kendrick, best known for her dippy role in 'Twilight', is a clever partner to Clooney’s Bingham. She wants to conquer the office; the weekend dinner parties, and the wall-street husband with a single syllabic name like Rick. Kendrick manages to carry off the part with ballsy gusto, but still sweet and naive at the same time. Clooney is of course a perfect fit for Bingham; this is a part no other actor could play better. Yet he manages to use his cocky appeal and push it further into the realm of vulnerability, as everything about the lifestyle he knows and loves, is totally tested. It’s a good simple movie. There is a part of everyone who loves the sterile brown bed sheets of a mid-range hotel. The little bars of soap and the little bottles of shampoo. It’s a great and original movie concept which tackles everything from the working family concept, to the recession and role of snappy youngsters in the work place. And it’s genuinely funny - not quite to the same level of genius as ‘Thank You for Smoking’ - but it’s definitely a lot better than most of the films in cinemas at the moment.  |
