The Apprentice...In The Air

All those blessed with appearing in Steven Soderburgh movies all seem committed to starring in sophisticated material from now on. Movies that both appear to the mainstream...but haven't been dumbed down by a committee of dumb studio executives, out to make a quick buck, at the expense of quality. So you have George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Ol' De Niro, he'll make crap if it pays good, but these guys try and find the smart stuff.

So Clooney does it again, this time finding sanctuary in the hands of Juno director Jason Reitman in Up In The Air. It's about a bloke who has no emotional baggage. He has a family he barely sees, an apartment he only spends a few days a year in, no close friends, no wife or kids. He spends the majority of the time working; flying from city to city 'professionally' firing people from employment. And that's the way he likes it, until his way of life is threatened and he has to take young upstart, Anna Kendrick, on the road with him.

This is a light indie comedy drama. With the recent downturn in global economics the release of this movie, with unemployment at its core, couldn't be more timely. Thematically, this is a great redemptive story for Clooney, with the surrounding cast including Jason Bateman (as his boss) and Vera Fermiga (as his love interest) gently nudging the evasive loner. Work, wealth and status, it would seem, are nothing without someone to share it with.

This is subtle, fluffy and witty while it's clear the cast are having fun. Clooney is excellent...although I can't see where all the Oscar buzz is coming from. Clooney, no matter how strong in the part, is always playing Clooney. He's a genuine, 100% movie star and a good actor...but (unlike Ellen Page or Marcia Gay Harden in Whip It) he's no character actor. Credit to Jason Reitman for not delivering on the tired rom-com ending you'd expect from the set up. Despite the light tone, it's deserving of Oscar consideration, especially for it's script. But there's more deserving out there for best actor. Sorry George.