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Up in the Air (2009) -- Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.
Up in the Air (2009) -- A clip from the movie Up in the Air
Up in the Air (2009) -- Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.
Up in the Air (2009) -- One man's quest for mileage points in this trailer for the comedy
Up in the Air (2009) -- Trailer for this comedy starring George Clooney
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Overview

User Rating:
8.3/10   422 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 97% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Jason Reitman
Writers (WGA):
Jason Reitman (screenplay) and
Sheldon Turner (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Up in the Air on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 December 2009 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama more
Tagline:
Arriving this December more
Plot:
With a job that has him traveling around the country firing people, Ryan Bingham leads an empty life out of a suitcase, until his company does the unexpected: ground him. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(479 articles)
George Clooney Spends Time Giving Thanks For Elisabetta
 (From Popsugar. 25 November 2009, 6:00 AM, PST)
5 Movie Clips from Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air Starring George Clooney
 (From Collider.com. 24 November 2009, 9:34 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Outstandingly scripted modern existential comedy more (5 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)

George Clooney ... Ryan Bingham

Vera Farmiga ... Alex

Anna Kendrick ... Natalie

Jason Bateman ... Craig Gregory

Danny McBride ... Jim

Melanie Lynskey ... Julie Bingham
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

James Anthony ... The Businessman

Steve Eastin ... Samuels

Dave Engfer ... Software Dude
Doug Fesler ... Business Traveler

Tamala Jones

Andrew Kruczynski ... Sergeant Perez

Chris Lowell ... Kevin

Adam Rose ... David

Lauren Mae Shafer ... Hertz Sales Rep.
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for language and some sexual content.
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
USA:109 min | Canada:108 min (Toronto International Film Festival)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS
Certification:
UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #45561) | New Zealand:M
Filming Locations:
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan, USA more
Company:
Cold Spring Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Jason Reitman began writing the screenplay in 2002 when the economy was booming and planned to make it as his first feature. The opportunity to make Thank You for Smoking (2005) and Juno (2007) presented themselves and he put this off until this year, meanwhile America plummeted into an economic recession. He said the film's tone changed completely in response to the real world crisis and works much better now as a topical piece than it would have a decade ago, the delays in its realization being fortuitous. more
Quotes:
Ryan Bingham: How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
Outstandingly scripted modern existential comedy, 19 October 2009
8/10
Author: Framescourer from London, UK

Up In The Air operates in a world in which allegory and circumstance are almost entirely overlaid. Ryan fires (rejects) people for a living, is always in flight and travels with only the most expedient baggage. Indeed, he moonlights giving talks on how to excise ties altogether like a karmic Gordon Gekko, rejecting the monogamy of swans for the cold, isolating consumerism of sharks in one notable speech.

This is serious stuff but Clooney is its ideal advocate. He's worldly, a man who doesn't indulge sentiment - but his charm and ability to engage with the comedy are genuine. He manages his gears well, does Clooney, so we don't get the screwballing (from Burn After Reading or O Brother, for example). Nor do we get some sort of mushy epiphany as he, inevitably, recognises the awful extent of his personal isolation. This is classy acting and carries the film.

Clooney is supported by two unconventional women: his jejune colleague Natalie is a trope, a graduate naive in almost every aspect of her life and work. Again Reitman's super script makes this thin-sounding part work nicely, patronising neither us nor the character. Alex is a female counterpart to Ryan in many ways and Vera Farmiga plays her without too much fuss given that she too is comparatively bi-dimensional.

The film does begin to unravel a bit. Reitman, admirably, is determined not to provide answers but rather throws the baby of conclusiveness out with the bathwater of resolution and transformation. Nonetheless it's a masterful comedy, like a tightrope of fun over a shark-infested river of reality. No swans. 8/10

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Win Tickets to 'Up in the Air' dan_dassow
Best film of the year... mintyrich
Eh not so good mala_education
Interviews with Ivan and Jason Reitman dan_dassow
20,000 ft. 'Up in the Air' with 'New Moon's' Anna Kendrick dan_dassow
clooney's voice is terrible crazyjake
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