Ellington

At the heart of Up in the Air is a quiet but burning question: When, in the pursuit of our goals, do we lose ourselves?

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizer — in other words, he fires people for a living — and spends almost the entire year either airborne or staying in hotels across the country. He loves his job and his lifestyle and is on the verge of obtaining his dream of reaching 10 million frequent-flyer miles. But the advent of a young efficiency expert (Anna Kendrick) and the beginnings of a romance with a fellow traveler (Vera Farmiga) are both threatening his solitary existence, and making him question the value of his life.

This is only Jason Reitman’s third film, and yet Up in the Air has more heart than 2006’s Thank You for Smoking, and more brain than 2007’s Juno. Reitman still has the same satirical trend, and Up in the Air can certainly be viewed as a corporate satire, but this angle isn’t as front-and-center as it is in Thank You for Smoking. The film is an existential comedy that is steeped in darker themes, yet in spite of this, it manages to be consistently funny and even warming at times. One of its great strengths is its portrayals of its characters and situations, most of which feel genuine and lack the artificial, circumstantial lining that plagues similar films.

This makes the film first and foremost a drama in idea, but the razor-sharp writing and outstanding performances make it a comedy in execution. Led by the infallible Clooney, who inflates his character with unprecedented amounts of depth and muted emotion, the cast is rounded out by actors and actresses who can command the screen without stealing the scene. Farmiga and Kendrick, as the two new women in Clooney’s life, are excellent in their respective roles; their characters are warped foils of each other, and the unique relationship Clooney has with both of them adds a wonderful, new dimension to the trite comedy of sexes.

Jason Bateman has a supporting role as Clooney’s boss, and Zach Galifianakis appears as a minor character in a subplot. Both actors do a fine job with the tasks at hand, especially Bateman, whose character’s efforts to streamline an already tricky business may have more drastic consequences than he could have imagined.

Even with its high-minded themes and naturalistic characters, Up in the Air does have some indie quirk left over from Reitman’s previous outing. The soundtrack, while mostly good, sometimes can’t help itself from crooning painfully aware indie-pop. The dialogue gets a bit too snappy at times, and its pitter-patter rhythm can grow wearing as the film reaches its conclusion.

But this problem does not last long as it is the final act of the film where Up in the Air truly soars. The ending allows it to stand tall above most other comedy-dramas and is what moves it out of the realm of greatness and into that of excellence. The film becomes a meditation on the nature of life and choices, of the roads people take to get to where they are, and of the destinations farther off in the horizon.

As a timely allegory and a thought-provoking comedy, Up in the Air is going to stand with the best films of the year. Be sure to check in for this one.

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Reach reporter Robert Frankel at weekender@dailyuw.com.