Up in the Air flies high

Finally caught up with UP IN THE AIR, and with this film and THE FANTASTIC MR FOX George Clooney has been having quite a good year. This is his best yet, as his smooth, sarcastic, likable delivery really hits the mark. He plays a big time frequent flyer executive who travels around the country firing employees in corporations that are afraid to do it themselves. He tries to distance himself from the sadness and anger these fired people have toward their company, their job, and him by becoming non-caring and zombie-like in his relations to other people, until he meets someone nearly as unsensitized as he, and at the same time has to train a young executive who has a hard time becoming distanced from her job. The film, directed by Jason Reitman who also directed Thank You for Smoking, and Juno, is easy to watch, low-key in it's comedy and hits a lot of societal buttons ie. unemployment, air travel issues, loneliness, etc. My only criticism--the big twist near the end seemed pretty obvious to me--I'd been waiting for that moment an hour earlier. Still, it's a quality film with fine actors including over two dozen actual laid-off/fired workers being interviewed that adds a sense of poignancy and pathos to the story. There's something quite satisfying about a glib, high powered exec getting his comeuppance even if he's the likable George Clooney.