Up in the Air (2009)

final verdict for: "Up in the Air“ (2009): First of all my BIG THANKS go to Sven Vorbeck for the generous gift that is this DVD, sorry I haven’t reviewed it earlier. 

Some of you may remember less my favourable final verdict for “Thank You for Smoking” (2005), actually I think it was my second or third. This movie shares the same superstructure, but does a lot better at it. Different from TYfS there is no unnecessary female sidekick here. The sidekicks in this movie matter a lot and contribute greatly to the overall story arc. Without them... the whole thing would not work. That is a great plus. 

Musicwise, Jason Reitman has greatly learned from “Juno” (2007) and has implemented this here. In fact I would go as far as to say that this movie takes all the rights from Juno and TYfS, leaves out the wrongs and mingles them very well together. I’ll admit, the movie is a little lengthy at times, but it’s manageable and you will be rewarded for every lengthy passage with one vibrating with life and emotion. However Reitman has a bit of a problem with simply incorporating too many details. Certain things are introduced and only briefly picked up later to make ends meet and that feels forced at times (the 10 million miles, or giving some of them away). 

The sporadically use of the shaky cam is another downside of the movie; it would have worked just as well with regular means of filming. Why attempt documentary style in a movie that does not try to be documentary at any point? My last piece of concern is the ending (happens quite often lately), which leaves the viewer completely puzzled about what changes have taken place and in how far Clooney’s character has changed and what his future implications are. 

Overall a very enjoyable film and well worth your time, although with a couple of dents and cracks here and there. A solid 7 out of 10!