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Writer's pictureThomas Duncan
Dec 117 min read

Up in the Air (2009) ft. Kieran B and Peterson W. Hill



Guests:


Cast:

  • Jason Reitman, Director/Writer

  • Sheldon Turner, Co-Writer

  • Rolfe Kent, Music

  • George Clooney as Ryan Bingham

  • Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran

  • Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener

  • Jason Bateman as Craig Gregory

  • Amy Morton as Kara Bingham

  • Melanie Lynskey as Julie Bingham

  • Danny McBride as Jim Miller

  • Zach Galifianakis as Steve

  • J. K. Simmons as Bob

  • Sam Elliott as Maynard Finch


*Recognition:

  • Up in the Air was released on December 4, 2009.

  • On a budget of $25 million, Up in the Air would go on to gross over $166 million worldwide finishing as the #38 film of that year.

  • It would be lauded by critics of the time particularly for its writing, editing, and lead performances.

  • The film would eventually receive six Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director (Reitman), Actor (Clooney), Supporting Actress (Farmiga and Kendrick), and Adapted Screenplay winning none.

  • In addition, the film was included on lists of the ten best films of 2009 by Roger Ebert, the American Film Institute, and The New York Times.

  • Up in the Air currently holds a 90% among critics on RT, an 83 score on Metacritic, and a 3.6/5 on Letterboxd.


What is this movie about?/Elevator Pitch: Loneliness, commentary on the American workforce, our relationships with technology, identities associated with work, meaningfulness in relationships.


Plot Summary: Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizer who spends most of his life traveling for work, reveling in the freedom of a rootless existence. Obsessed with achieving a coveted ten-million-mile frequent flyer goal, Ryan avoids emotional entanglements and personal commitments. However, his carefully constructed life is disrupted when a young efficiency expert, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), proposes a cost-cutting plan that could ground his lifestyle. Simultaneously, Ryan begins an unexpected relationship with fellow traveler Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), forcing him to confront the emptiness of his transient life. Up in the Air is a poignant exploration of connection, loneliness, and the value of relationships in a disconnected world.


Did You Know:

  • A large number of the people we see fired in the film are not actors, but people who were recently laid off. The filmmakers put out ads in St. Louis and Detroit posing as a documentary crew looking to document the effect of the recession. When people showed up, they were instructed to treat the camera like the person who fired them and respond as they did, or use the opportunity to say what they wished they had. A way to discern who are the actors, and who are the real people, is that the real people do not have dialogue with George Clooney or Anna Kendrick, as they were shot separately. Jason Reitman did this intentionally, feeling that the real people would freak out Clooney and Kendrick.

  • Vera Farmiga used a body double for her nude scene. In an interview she stated she has no problem being naked in a film, but she had recently given birth and "The breast milk running down would have been inappropriate."

  • When Bob shows Ryan a photo of his two children, it is a photo of J.K. Simmons's real children.

  • George Clooney's wardrobe for the entire movie actually fits in one carry-on suitcase.

  • When Alex is at the Atlanta airport, she asks Ryan if he knows a good place for ribs. Ryan tells her to go to "Fat Matt's", a real rib shack on Piedmont Avenue. Jason Reitman is a big fan of the restaurant. In return, owners Matt and Kelly Harper presented Reitman with a card entitling him to a "lifetime of ribs".


Ask Dana Anything:

  • Kieran B (Host of the Best Picture Cast)

    • What is the longest flight you've been on?

    • If you could fly direct to anywhere, where would you go?

  • Peterson W. Hill (Co-Host of the War Starts at Midnight)

    • Farmiga or Kendrick: who would you rather represent you at trial?

    • Which would be the better representative while intoxicated?


Best Performance: George Clooney (Ryan)/Vera Farmiga (Alex)

Best Secondary Performance: Jason Reitman (Director/Writer)/Anna Kendrick (Natalie)

Most Charismatic Award: George Clooney (Ryan)/Anna Kendrick (Natalie)

Best Scene:

  • Who Are You?

  • Memberships Cards

  • Grounded

  • Tricks of the Airport

  • Bob's Firing

  • Natalie's First Firing

  • Talking to Jim

  • Alex's Family

Favorite Scene: Bob's Firing/Drinking Together/Who Are You?/Grounded

Most Indelible Moment: Bob's Firing/Alex's Family/Going Back to High School


In Memorium:


Best Lines/Funniest Lines:

Ryan Bingham: [to Natalie while watching passengers go through airport security] Never get behind people traveling with infants. I've never seen a stroller collapse in less than 20 minutes. Old people are worse. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.


Kara Bingham: Jim's got cold feet.

Kara Bingham: Today?

Kara Bingham: Yeah that's how cold feet work.

Ryan Bingham: What do you want me to do?

Kara Bingham: Talk to him.

Ryan Bingham: You want me to talk to him?

Kara Bingham: It's either you or me and you know my track record; I've already struck out once.

Ryan Bingham: I've never been up to bat, I haven't even been in the dug-out.

Kara Bingham: Don't you talk for a living? Motivational king of stuff?

Ryan Bingham: I tell people how to avoid commitment.

Kara Bingham: What kind of fucked up message is that?


Natalie Keener: So they don't actually ever do it?

Ryan Bingham: No, no, no. Let's just talk.

Natalie Keener: How do you know? Do you follow up?

Ryan Bingham: I mean no, nothing good's going to come of that.


Ryan Bingham: You know that moment when you look into somebody's eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet just for a second?

Natalie Keener: Yes.

Ryan Bingham: [shrugs] Right. Well, I don't.

Natalie Keener: you're an asshole.


Ryan Bingham: If you think about it, your favorite memories, the most important moments in your life... were you alone?


Ryan Bingham: Last year I spent 322 days on the road, which means I had to spend 43 miserable days at home.


Natalie Keener: Tests have shown that children under moderate trauma tend to apply themselves academically as a method of coping.

Bob: "Go fuck yourself", that's what my kids will think.

Ryan Bingham: Your kids' admiration is important to you?

Bob: Yeah of course.

Ryan Bingham: I doubt they ever admired you.

Bob: Hey, asshole, aren't you supposed to be consoling me?

Ryan Bingham: I'm not a shrink I'm a wakeup call, I see guys who work at the same company their entire lives guys exactly like you they clock in and they clock out and they never have a moment of happiness you have an opportunity, this is a rebirth, if not for you do it for your children.


Ryan Bingham: [walking past Middle Eastern passengers at airport security check in with Natalie] Five words: "randomly selected for additional screening"


Natalie Keener: You're so pretty. You're exactly what I want to look like in fifteen years.


Alex Goran: We all fall for the pricks. Pricks are spontaneous, they're unpredictable and they're fun. And then we're surprised when they turn out to be pricks.


Natalie Keener: Okay, what are we doing?

Ryan Bingham: We are here to make limbo tolerable, to ferry wounded souls across the river of dread until the point were hope is dimly visible. And then stop the boat, shove them in the water and make them swim.


Ryan Bingham: How much did they pay you to give up on your dreams?

Bob: Twenty-seven thousand a year.

Ryan Bingham: At what point were you going to stop and go back to what made you happy?


Natalie Keener: Please, for the love of God, can I fire the next one.


Bob: Well, I can't dunk.


Ryan Bingham: Starting when I was 12, we moved each one of my grandparents into a nursing facility. My parents went the same way. Make no mistake, we all die alone. Now those cult members in San Diego, with the sneakers and the Kool-Aid, they didn't die alone. I'm just saying there are options.


Ryan Bingham: [narrating last lines] Tonight most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs and squeling kids and thousands more will ask about their day and tonight they'll sleep. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.


Natalie Keener: It's like, yeah, you're going to die one day.

Ryan Bingham: Why do you think that's singular to men?

Natalie Keener: I don't know. Probably because you can't have babies?

Ryan Bingham: Oh, the baby argument?!


Ryan Bingham: Are you angry at your computer?

Natalie Keener: I type with purpose.


Ryan Bingham: [over the phone] I thought I was a part of your life.

Alex Goran: I thought we signed up for the same thing... I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis.

Ryan Bingham: I'm a parenthesis?


Ryan Bingham: I'm not sure what originally sparked the backpack. Probably needed to be alone. Recently, I've been thinking that I needed to empty the backpack before I know what to put back in it.


Ryan Bingham: Life's better with company.


The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 5.13

Impact/Significance: 7.5

Novelty: 7.88

Classic-ness: 9.13

Rewatchability: 8.25

Audience Score: 7.25 (66% Google, 79% RT)

Total: 45.14


Remaining Questions:

  • What is Natalie's job 5 or 10 years on?

  • Does Ryan stay at his job?

  • How did Ryan find Alex's home address, but not know she had a family?

  • Does Alex have any right to be mad at Ryan for nearly exposing her?

  • Is Clooney a bad dancer?

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