I had such high hopes for this movie. Not just because of the buzz it’s generating, but because of its two Akron connections — it’s based on a novel by Akron native Walter Kirn, and the soundtrack features a song from Akronite Dan Auerbach. Plus, I really really liked director Jason Reitmann’s two previous films: “Thank you for smoking” and “Juno.” But, despite the perfect casting of the four leads, I left the theater thinking it was good, not great, and definitely not the best film of the year. I thought the depiction of the current corporate climate and business travel was excellently done, but I had lot of other issues with the story and when I think a movie’s really good I don’t spend the rest of the day saying “And another thing … such and such would never really happen.” I actually hadn’t seen the trailer until tonight, when I was furiously reading the reviews of top critics to see why they really really liked the movie and I didn’t, and honestly, I like the trailer a whole lot better than the movie. I’m pretty picky when it comes to movies, and I know I annoy others when I start dissecting a movie (except my husband, who generally agrees with me, though he doesn’t care nearly as much as I do). “It’s just a movie,” they always sigh in exasperation. Yeah, so? I think. Why can’t a movie that’s supposed to be realistic be a little more realistic?
For example, WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS: a woman who’s having a casual, no-strings affair as an escape from her real life with husband and kids would probably not fly to upper Wisconsin in winter for a weekend to be with her lover and his estranged family when his sister gets married (isn’t that a bit too intimate and stressful for a casual extra-marital affair that she wants to keep casual – to meet his family, be his date and visit his old high school, etc.?), and that he has no clue she’s married with children then or at any other point in their relationship? Also, that after her experience with Ryan on the road that Natalie would have returned to corporate to happily oversee the rollout of the Internet firings? Did the whole experience on the road actually not change her at all, until she found out someone had killed herself after being fired? That Ryan would have absolutely no recollection of the woman who said she was going to jump off a bridge and kill herself when he found out a woman actually had – I know he said lots of people made threats – but Natalie had to leave the building after that one and they had a pretty extensive conversation about the likelihood of that actually happening. Plus, it was great (albeit predictable) he donated the air miles so his sister and her new husband could travel around the world since money was tight with them and they couldn’t even afford a honeymoon – but was he also going to donate all the hotel rooms, food and entertainment costs as well? Otherwise, why would you give someone with no money airfare to go around the world? I also found it unlikely that a 23-year-old hotshot graduate from Cornell would be telling Ryan and Alex that she had thought by 23 she’d be married and maybe with a baby. Someone who has that life plan in mind probably wouldn’t go to Cornell and be so career-driven (did she think she’d graduate at 22, then find a husband, get married and give birth in a year all while working for a Fortune 500 company?). Some of the movie reviews I read said that Natalie was Ryan “then” and Alex was Ryan “now”. I disagree with that, too. Ryan never thought a close relationship was necessary and lived his life that way; Natalie, who followed her boyfriend from San Francisco to Omaha, obviously thinks differently and often lectured Ryan about his isolation. I also read that the movie people auditioned people who had really lost their jobs to play some of the parts of the people who were being fired. I thought there was an obvious difference between them and the real actors — the real people seemed stiff and their reactions didn’t seem genuine. Also, at the end of the movie you’re supposed the think that Ryan’s back where he started from, but I don’t think so. He showed some heart by helping talk his sister’s fiancee out of his cold feet, writing a recommendation letter for Natalie, and showing he really did want a relationship when he showed up at Alex’s door. Sure, she obviously wasn’t the one for him in the end, but I think, once he recovers from her, he would be ready to look for a real relationship. Okay, okay, I’ll stop, although there’s more. This is why I shouldn’t start in the first place.
Anyway, my husband and I drove all the way up to Independence to see this movie because it’s still in limited release and I am glad I saw it because otherwise I would have wondered what I was missing, but give me “Up” instead of “Up in the air” any day for a movie to really make me laugh, cry and reflect on life and the importance of relationships.
