Up in the Air

Theatrical Release Date: 2009 12 04 (USA - Limited) / 2009 12 11 (USA - Expanding) / 2009 12 23 (USA)

UPC: 097360789447

Studio: Paramount

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Jason Reitman's adaptation of the novel Up in the Air tells the story of Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who makes his living personally handing out pink slips -- he's the top hatchet man at a company that other companies hire when they are downsizing. And since business is booming, his job keeps him on the go constantly. He flies all across the country, staying in a series of nice hotels. And although this itinerant lifestyle prevents him from having any kind of stable, regular life, this doesn't bother him in the slightest -- he's thrilled to be a boy in a traveling bubble. During one particular layover, he strikes up a conversation with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a fellow savvy traveler. They bond over the ins and outs of various airlines and hotels, and quickly fall into bed. By morning, they are figuring out when their schedules will allow them to meet up again, even though they both make it clear that there are no strings attached. When Ryan arrives back in the home office, he meets no-nonsense career-oriented twentysomething Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a fast-rising up-and-comer who wants to change the company's practices and save millions by having the staff fire people remotely via webcams. Furious at the thought of losing a lifestyle he's grown quite comfortable with, he convinces his boss (Jason Bateman) to let him take Natalie on a few trips so that she can learn what it's really like to fire someone. Melanie Lynskey, Danny McBride, and J.K. Simmons co-star in this Best Picture Academy Award nominee. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: Best Actor – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – London Film Festival Best Edited Feature - Drama – American Cinema Editors Guild Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress – National Board of Review Best Adapted Screenplay – National Board of Review Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Actor – National Board of Review Best Adapted Screenplay – National Board of Review Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Picture – Austin Film Critics Best Adapted Screenplay – Austin Film Critics Best Adapted Screenplay – Austin Film Critics Best Screenplay – Toronto Film Critics Association Producer of the Year – Producers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actor – New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actress – Austin Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Picture – Florida Film Critics Best Adapted Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Actor – Florida Film Critics Best Director – Florida Film Critics Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Features: Deleted Scenes
Filmmaker's Commentary
Music Video - "Help Yourself" by Sad Brad HD

Up in the Air

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 03/09/2010

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 109 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish,Portuguese

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish,Portuguese

Perry Seibert

In economic times as shaky as these, it takes a certain amount of bravery to make your movie's hero a businessman who fires people as a profession, but that's what Jason Reitman does with Up in the Air. That he makes his main character sympathetic is just one of the film's startling achievements. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) makes his living personally handing out pink slips -- he's the top hatchet man at a company that other companies hire when they are downsizing. And since business is booming, his job keeps him on the go constantly. He flies all across the country, staying in a series of nice hotels. And although this itinerant lifestyle prevents him from having any kind of stable, regular life, this doesn't bother him in the slightest -- he's thrilled to be a boy in a traveling bubble. During one particular layover, he strikes up a conversation with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a fellow savvy traveler. They bond over the ins and outs of various airlines and hotels, and quickly fall into bed. By morning, they are figuring out when their schedules will allow them to meet up again, even though they both make it clear that there are no strings attached. When Ryan arrives back in the home office, he meets no-nonsense career-oriented twentysomething Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a fast-rising up-and-comer who wants to change the company's practices and save millions by having the staff fire people remotely via webcams. Furious at the thought of losing a lifestyle he's grown quite comfortable with, he convinces his boss (Jason Bateman) to let him take Natalie on a few trips so that she can learn what it's really like to fire someone. She learns the ins and outs of dealing with people who've been given the worst news of their lives -- how to handle them firmly but calmly, while serving up a few inspirational platitudes. Clooney brings to these sequences a maturity we haven't seen in his other work -- honestly, if you had to be fired you would want Ryan to do it. But it's precisely the character's ability to comfortably cut ties that makes him a loner in his private life. He conveys Ryan's lone wolf persona not as a defense against life -- a mask to cover up some hidden pain -- but simply as just the way the guy is. That makes his slow transformation -- his realization that Alex might be something more than just another friend with benefits -- all the more realistic. Clooney may be in every scene, but he's far from the only performer who gets to shine: Farmiga might be one of the few actresses who can match him when it comes to playful sexiness; Kendrick finds depth in a part that could have been little more than a stereotypical high-strung go-getter; and J.K. Simmons breaks your heart as one of Ryan's many victims. For its first half, Up in the Air combines the workplace comedy with the road movie, and it's an engaging, entertaining melding of those two durable genres. But where the film surprises is by changing gears halfway through into a bittersweet family comedy. Ryan's sister (Melanie Lynskey) is getting married, and, for possibly the first time in his life, he wants to make a real connection with his siblings. This follows through on yet another plot strand -- Ryan's attempt to make a living as a self-help guru. He has a side gig lecturing about how to manage your life, and he stresses that the weight of relationships in our lives slows us down when life is all about moving forward. Up in the Air is about Ryan learning what's true and what isn't about this speech he's been giving for years. Reitman's film is so ambitious you can't shake the feeling he's trying to create "The Great American Movie," a summation of where we are right now at the close of the 21st century's first decade. Up in the Air is so truthful, poignant, and entertaining, so assured with its adherence to classical Hollywood structure, that he just might have pulled it off. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jason Reitman  Director 
Jason Reitman  Producer 
Jason Reitman  Screenwriter 
Joe Medjuck  Executive Producer 
Ivan Reitman  Producer 
Jeffrey Clifford  Producer 
Rolfe Kent  Composer (Music Score) 
Michael Beugg  Executive Producer 
Ted Griffin  Executive Producer 
Tom Pollock  Executive Producer 
Sheldon Turner  Screenwriter 
Daniel Dubiecki  Producer 
George Clooney  Actor 
Vera Farmiga  Actor 
Anna Kendrick  Actor 
Jason Bateman  Actor 
Danny McBride  Actor 
Melanie Lynskey  Actor 
Amy Morton  Actor 
Sam Elliott  Actor 
J.K. Simmons  Actor 
Zach Galifianakis  Actor 
Chris Lowell  Actor 

Country: USA