Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, 2009)

Reitman already proved with Thank You for Smoking and Juno that he could negotiate the potentially tricky terrain between pathos, comedy and social comment with considerable aplomb, and Up in the Air occupies a similar niche comfortably. This time, the conflicted protagonist is George Clooney's corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham, who effectively lives in airport transit as he criss-crosses the nation passing on the bad news to employees of companies too squeamish to do it themselves.
Bingham can be seen as a mish-mash of Aaron Eckhart's smooth-talking tobacco industry bastard of Thank You for Smoking and Ellen Page's superficially self-assured teenager of Juno, living in a cocoon of his own creation built on fragile foundations. When technology threatens to force him to face the transitory vacuity of his existence and commit to a stationary life, the seeds are sown for doubt about his capacity to remain emotionally detached from his work or personal commitment.
As with Reitman's previous outings, the dialogue sparkles with jargon and wit, and the tone flows seamlessly from satire to catharsis. Clooney also gets to show once more that he's much more than just a walking roguish smirk. Perhaps the only reason why the whole doesn't quite emotively hit Reitman's previous peaks though, is that in centring on a man who's sadly trapped in limbo, there's no merciful release at the end of it all.

7/10