Up In the Air

So I finally got around to seeing Up In the Air, after avoiding it for weeks. I;m not sure why I was avoiding it, something to do with the my feeling that even though it seemed to be marketed as a comedy, it looked depressing. And it was. Although there were many funny (and well-written) lines, it was not a happy-ending kind of movie. George Clooney is the corporate downsizer-flying from city to city to fire people. Anna Kendrick is the new hire, with many bright ideas-although I have to say for someone who has a minor in psychology, she's not very aware as to how people behave when they get let go. And Vera Farmiga is Clooney's counterpart-the corporate road warrior, who is on the road as much as he.

So, what is this movie actually about? The loneliness of the road? The inability of George Clooney to make a human connection and when he does, it doesn't work out? Is it a diatribe for or against marriage? Because it spends most of the movie saying marriage is a good thing, while betraying that by showing that the people in the movie who ARE married, are not in the best situation. And the only reason to get married is so that you are not alone? Really? All I could think during those scenes is that there is only one reason to get married-and that is that you love the other person so much that you want to stand up in front of your friends and family and say so. If you marry someone because you don't want to be lonely...it's not a good reason-there is nothing lonelier than being in a relationship with someone who does not feel the same as you. My brother said he thought this movie was cynical and I'm not sure why he said that, but I think it has to do with a woman playing the part usually played by a man (actually, the young whippersnapper part could have been played a man as well). I am both amused and depressed by a woman being the one who is cheating on her husband and kids and escaping from real life with George Clooney (and who wouldn't?). Traditionally, this would be a guy and the woman would be traumatized by the evil cheating guy-and here the tables are turned. I find it sad that Clooney seems to take this as a sign he should never have a relationship again, while a woman would pick herself up, dust herself off and pick the right guy next time, at least in the happy world of film. Is this equality, when the tables are turned?