Up in the Air (2009)

This film is amazing. Absolutely amazing.
The concept is simple and depressing. Ryan Bingham (a brilliant George Clooney) flies around the country firing people for the company he works for. He makes his living out of the misery of others. But it is how he does it, or so he claims. The reactions of the people he fires are devastating, but he remains stoic throughout the whole thing. He has few goals in life, not wanting to get married, have a permanent relationship, definitely no kids, but he wants to reach 10,000,000 miles in the air. That is all he cares about. He is distant from his sisters and cares little about that. He also occasionally gives motivational speeches over the burdens of average life. Then he meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga, wonderful). She is his match-made in heaven, being equally as travel savvy as he is. She is likewise fine with having a relationship that is casual and fleeting, because they are slaves to their schedules.
Then, things change. Thanks to the economy and young graduate, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), Ryan is being grounded. People will now be fired via webcam, meaning the company will save tons of money. He finds the whole thing upsetting. For now, he and Natalie hit the trail, though Natalie is a travel novice and drags Ryan down. Then Natalie's boyfriend breaks up with her via text message, which Ryan compares to firing someone via the internet. As Natalie breaks down, Alex arrives and they have an interesting conversation, with Natalie thanking Alex for what her generation did for her (granted Alex is only roughly a decade older than Natalie). Natalie often clashes with him but eventually learns the ropes, though the people react badly as one can expect. Ryan informs Natalie not to worry about it.
Meanwhile, Ryan's younger sister is getting married and he asks Alex to attend with him. While his younger sister, Julie (Melanie Lynskey) is preparing for her wedding, his older sister, Kara's (Amy Morton) is falling apart. However, Ryan is so out of touch with his sisters, that he is not even asked to walk Julie down the aisle (their father has already died). Then Jim (Danny McBride), Julie's fiance, has a breakdown and Kara insists that Ryan pick up the pieces. This goes against everything he has ever believed in, but he manages to coax Jim to reconsider everything. After all, being alone is lonely. Ryan should know, he is always alone. The wedding goes forward, to everyone's relief.
After the wedding, Ryan returns to Omaha where he has a desk job, though he misses Alex massively. After walking out on a motivation speech, he goes after Alex, only to be dealt the shock of his life. (I won't give it away, but I, along with the entire rest of theater, when I first saw the film, was shocked speechless.) Then he finally meets his goal of ten million miles, but it is a bittersweet victory. And then he receives word that one of the people whom Natalie fired followed through on her threat, and Ryan, who had seen the warning signs, did nothing. Because of this incident, Natalie quits and Ryan writes her a good letter of recommendation. In the meantime, Ryan's life has returned to normal, meaning for more than three hundred days a year, he will be on the road. He is not thrilled, but almost disappointed about the whole thing.
The script is smart and snappy, but realistic though the performances are what makes the film brilliant, with each of the nominated performances, Clooney, Farmiga and Kendrick (both Farmiga and Kendrick were up for supporting actress) each deserved to win the Oscar, though Farmiga and Kendrick lost to Mo'Nique, evil but sensational in Precious. On the other hand, Clooney was completely robbed.
The film is still timely, with the economy in the dumps and the issues it presents are timeless. Are relationships worth it? What happens when everything you ever stood for changes but the people don't change with it? Though the film delves into some serious issues, comedy also ensues, weaved in flawlessly. This film is to be treasured and watched over and over again. Grade: A