Good, however disappointing. Which is even more disappointing to me, because Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” comes from my favorite genre: Contemporary Dramadies. And ever since “American Beauty”, this genre has been gaining favor with the Academy with subsequent best picture nominations for “Lost in Translation”, “Sideways”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, and of course “Juno” who was also directed by Reitman.
But, for some reason… “Up in the Air” fell flat with me. Some say the success of this film stems from its acting performances. I don’t really buy into that though. Sure, I am a Clooney fan… and I am also a Jason Bateman fan. Sure, they both delivered solid performances as always, however, their performance were no more remarkable than their solid performances on “ER” and “The Hogan Family”, I mean, “Arrested Development”. Listen, I don’t mean to poo-poo on them… they are good actors… but hey, there is a reason Meryl Streep deserves 16 Oscar nominations, because she reinvents herself with just about every role. Although I enjoy performances by Clooney and Bateman, I’m not going to shower them with unwarranted praise for simply pumping out yet another Clooney-esque performance. I don’t mean to sound cruel, but this is how the real world works. I have a job, I am expected to be good at my job, and I deliver. I don’t believe in honoring people for simply delivering. I believe in honoring people for excellence. In short, Clooney delivered another solid Clooney performance.
Which brings me to Oscar nominated supporting actress, Anna Kendrick… I don’t get it. Her performance was average at best; average with the hint of something special to come. She was rather flat and seemed to lack subtly. To me her entire performance was, “I am angry now,” “I am sad,” “I am frustrated,” “I am concentrating.” Once she learns to transition from one emotion to the other seamlessly, I think she’ll be a very good actress.
That said, the stand out performance from “Up in the Air” was Vera Farmiga. She was simply fantastic and a pleasure to watch. And what I really love about Vera is how goofy she is in real life. After seeing her in an interview she reminded me of an awkward high school girl whose favorite extracurricular activity is drama club. Everything she exudes in real life is the opposite of what she exudes as Alex in “Up in the Air”. If she had not been pitted up against Mo’Nique, I am sure she would have walked away with the award.
Man… I am prattling on… in closing, I want to answer the question at hand: why was this film so darn successful? Well, the premise was timely. It’s a movie about a man who fires people for a living being replaced by technology because it saves the company money. Hey, we’re in the middle of an economy crisis folks… the story is timely… and frankly… if you’ve lost your job recently, or know someone who has… it might be as painful to watch as movies like Precious.
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