Up In The Air

FILM REVIEW

BY STEVE LOWE

When my parents’ generation went to the cinema, it was more to see the star than the movie.

They would go to a Cary Grant movie or a Humphrey Bogarde film, knowing what they would get.

These days it is all method acting and plot but there are still stars that attract for more than being simply able to give that winning smile or scowl menacingly.

George Clooney is such a star. The present Mrs Lowe does swoon at the mention of his name but Mr Clooney also appeals to the more discerning fan of the silver screen, particularly as he often eschews the Hollywood blockbuster for what once would have been called arthouse films.

Up in the Air is in that mould.

George plays a man who travels the length and breadth of the USA as a consultant who fires people – I feel like I know him.

He loves the travelling, the being alone – apart from casual sex – and the hotel life.

He hates the idea of settling down and having a family. With most American films you would know where this is going, as he finds true love in some God-blessed town and realises how wrong he was.

All this would be done in the most sentimental way possible and everyone would leave the cinema with a warm glow in their heart and a dull thudding in their head.

Up in the Air does not go this way, although at some points you feel it might. It is witty, at times has genuine emotion and is constantly surprising.

All this and George Clooney too.

I suppose in order to pay for this an Oceans 15 is on its way.