Around the World, No Connections

Ryan Bingham flies across the country firing other companies' employees, as a kind of outsourced pink slip specialist (imagine filling out that Customs form). He spends most of his days "up in the air," and director/co-writer Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking", "Juno") gets a lot of metaphorical mileage out of the expression.

Traveling light, Bingham is loyal only to the airline industry. Without strong ties to anyone, including his family members, Bingham has been everywhere and nowhere. He dreams of reaching 10 million frequent flyer miles, but wouldn't use them to travel. "There is no purpose," he explains.

It's not long before Bingham's life encounters some turbulence. He meets his match in Alex (Vera Farmiga), a seemingly kindred spirit in the sky ("think of me as you with a vagina") who nevertheless starts to make him feel grounded. Bingham's suitcase lifestyle is threatened when his boss (Jason Bateman) hires go-getter Natalie (Anna Kendrick), who proposes a new method of firing people via teleconferencing. In a bid to prove her wrong (and save his own job) he takes her with him on his next layoff tour.

George Clooney fans will be reliably pleased, but here his usual charm is laced with a loneliness that makes him more widely sympathetic - even as he fires people. Many of the people being fired are non-actors who really did lose their jobs. Their presence puts the human back in human resources, and at times gives the film a documentary feel.

Vera Farmiga delivers a potent performance that is both smart and sexy, fleshing out what is perhaps the more complicated character. Anna Kendrick convincingly projects the naive ambition and conflicted cruelty of a PowerPoint princess. Jason Bateman energizes his few scenes, though they can seem like fly-bys.

Based on the novel by Walter Kirn, "Up In the Air" manages to succeed at different altitudes, addressing the absurdity and poignancy of human connections. Much of the film takes place in airports, where strangers make their arrivals and departures. Yet "Up In the Air" ultimately suggests we're all traveling to the same place, with the same baggage.