Reviews

"Up in the Air" makes it look easy. Not just in its casual and apparently effortless excellence, but in its ability to blend entertainment and insight, comedy and poignancy, even drama and reality, things that are difficult by themselves but a whole lot harder in combination. This film does all that and never seems to break a sweat.

—— Los AngelesTimes

One of the movie's main concerns is transitions -- personal, professional, technological -- and the timeliness of the movie comes not only from addressing the current U.S. economic situation and its effects on the livelihoods of normal people but also in showing how current technologies and consumer choices contribute to a growing sense of individual isolationism and materialistic goals -- to the point where one can even justify such a lifestyle as sound. It's a portrait of an America becoming more disconnected as it becomes more connected virtually; but director Jason Reitman, like Bingham, offers a glimmer of future hope by suggesting the instinct to personally connect is inherent and deep-rooted. Such themes aren't necessarily original, but Up in the Air knows how to package them well, adultly, soberly, with its dependable script and performances, lacking neither humor nor darkness, to reflect upon our social natures -- vulnerable and defensive, masked in independence -- in these current times.

By Jeffrey Chen