"Up in the Air" - that's what George Clooney's Oscar status is

Up in the Air is a drama film based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Walter Kim. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox, TV's ER) is a corporate downsizer who flies in a plane and fires people from their jobs. He also trains Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Twilight) in how to properly let people off their jobs. He may or may not see something in a fellow traveler Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga, Orphan, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas), but between his love for his job that's so great he never wants to relax, and her desire to simply have one-night stands, neither of them will admit it. But is there more to Alex than meets the eye?

This looks like a great year for George Clooney, as this is technically his second film to receive huge Oscar buzz (if you count Fantastic Mr. Fox), but I feel this one is more deserving. The ending is not what I expected at all, and with today's economy I'm sure many will be able to relate to this. George Clooney's acting was the most convincing thing about the film, he plays the role so well. I liked the idea of how they were "letting the employees go" trying not to hurt their feelings, and the relationship between Ryan, Natalie, and Alex (no, it's not Betty and Veronica syndrome) as it progressed, and I sort of felt sorry for Ryan not having time for any fun.

The film got an R rating, just over the limit, likely due to all the F-words (about 20). It is implied that Alex and Ryan had sex in a hotel bed (we see a side view of Alex's bare breast in one scene, but it's mostly them naked and covered in sheets and towels). Alex also tells Ryan to think of her as being like him, "only with a vagina", rather than "some waitress you bang in a snowstorm". Natalie believes that boys always "get a hard-on and feel the need to pee on everything" when something excites them. There's no real severe violence, but we see one of the fired employees, Steve (Zach Galifianakis, G-Force, The Hangover), with a rifle (he doesn't shoot anyone or anything, but he loads it), and one fired employee threatens to jump off a bridge upon being fired (contact me privately for what became of her). There's a lot of drinking at a party, and Ryan, Alex, and Natalie appear drunk in one scene.

My recommendation? See it any way you can, especially if you're a fan of the novel (which I haven't read) or someone in the cast. If you feel you'll cry too much at a film about job loss, then skip it.