Up in the Air is directed by Jason Reitman and stars George Clooney as a business traveller who spends a lot of time travelling around America by air, accumulating a ton of airmiles and loyalty points. His job once he reaches his destination, is to fire people. This job however, is under threat from a young graduate (Anna Kendrick) who has bright ideas about cutting costs by doing the firing via webcam. And during his travels he meets a fellow business traveller (Vera Farmiga), who he develops an unorthodox long distance relationship with, which ultimately leads him to question his lifestyle.

This film is bewilderingly described as a romantic comedy, and while it has romance, and also some laugh out loud moments, it’s anything but the usual rubbish that’s churned out every other week. First of all the dialogue from Clooney flows smoother than silk. His ability to maintain that cool, suave persona of his always seems completely effortless, and it really suits this role. But what I liked most about this film was it actually had emotion – Something that is always severely lacking in the usual rom-com – and I actually found myself caring for the characters.

Whenever I watch a film I try to predict what path it’s going to take. And by the first half of the film, I was pretty confident that I knew where it was going. So when the film took a different direction three quarters of the way in, I was taken completely off guard. This is what I love most – but rarely find – in a good film.

The friends who I went to see the film with, said they felt slightly depressed by the end of it. I don’t think that was its intention though. Everyone expects a happy ending, and when they don’t get it, you automatically assume it’s a sad or unhappy ending. If you look closer though, you’ll realise that this isn’t what it’s trying to achieve. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but I think Clooney’s character is actually content with his unconventional lifestyle by the end of it, and trying to change that just lead to unhappiness for him, so why change things?

If your girlfriend, wife or partner is trying to drag you along to one of the many rom-coms out there at the moment, I urge you to try and get them to see this instead, so they can see how it’s supposed to be done.

8.5/10