Well I didn’t see this coming… when I heard this being talked about in connection with Oscar Buzz, a movie directed by Juno‘s Jason Reitman (don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but it was overrated*) and starring George Clooney who I always feel can only play himself, I cringed. It seemed this was soon to be the movie that ruined an otherwise good-looking Oscar season and ceremony Slumdog style. It was only when Malcolm Ingram, of whom I only really know of via Kevin Smith’s podcast, tweeted, “I’ll be damned if @jasonreitman didn’t channel Hal Ashby for his new flick UP IN THE AIR…” that my interest really perked up about it. I still started the movie fearing the worst…
Again, I’m not sure where to start (and if I get around to filling in the missing reviews from the end of last year through repeat viewings, you’ll hear that a lot over this season’s Oscar movies)… maybe at the end. At this very moment, even though I’ve still a few potential contenders to see, I’m fairly stunned to find myself thinking this may be the movie I find myself rooting for come March 7th. If nothing else, it ranks alongside Moon and An Education as one of the most intelligent movies I’ve seen of the past year. But on top of that, it has heart that comes from nowhere, on at least two occasions near crippling humour, and a way of capturing the world as it is right now, “our time” and all that (I usually hate that too!), in a manner that I can only compare to Cameron Crowe’s (who I have frequently compared to the aforementioned Ashby) take on the dying gasps of the 60s in Almost Famous. Ingram wasn’t wrong, Reitman has taken leaps here from Juno and if the movie doesn’t sweep all the major categories then I hope he at least benefits from a rare Picture/Director split. If you know how overrated I have on occasion felt Juno was, you’ll know how hard it is for me to say that.
What’s funny is the movie doesn’t immediately fill you with this sense of appreciation. When we first meet Clooney and the woman he falls in love with, played by Vera Farmiga (good, but not as intense as in Orphan), they’re exactly that kind of character that makes you think after about 5 minutes … “ … and why should we care about these people?” They’re rich, fairly obnoxious, hollow people travelling the world and staying in swanky hotels making a living off firing people. Pure loathesome. What’s amazing is how quickly the movie wins you over to them and holds interest over nearly 2 hours approaching the most human, emotional resolutions I have seen in film in the past year. Avatar may be an achievement, Tarantino overdue, and The Hurt Locker one of the greatest war movies of all time, and they’re all among my favourites of last year, make no mistake… but I think this movie, against all the odds given the protagonists, speaks for more people than all those put together in the Right Now, including, to my astonishment, me. If you knew how much I expected, and for a time wanted, to loathe this movie, you’d know how stunned I am to be saying all this.
*Yep, I loved this one so much, however, that I’ll be revisiting Juno and Thank You For Smoking and anything else Reitman has done so don’t call me on that in the comments …