the Informer

How does one director make his first two films he’s ever made Oscar-worthy and not be trusted with making a third?

The answer will likely remain up in the air. With his flick “Up in the Air” being one of the 10 films nominated for best picture, Jason Reitman will likely be able to direct any script he breathes on. He’s also a fantastic screenwriter, too.

Reitman adapted the book of the same title by Walter Kirn, which follows Ryan Bingham who works for a company that other companies hire to lay off unsuspecting workers.

To know Ryan (George Clooney), as he says, is to fly with him. The flight is a perfect range of emotions—joy, sadness and of course the witty humor that permeates the script.

One of the earliest lines in the film is during a conversation between Ryan and a flight attendant who says, “Do you want the can, sir?” but she slurs her speech so it sounds like she’s saying “cancer.”

It’s a funny, albeit random exchange, but Clooney acts it out as though as Ryan sort of goes through this moment of existential doubt and fear. That, ultimately, is the genesis of Ryan Bingham—the “moving is living” lifestyle never allows him to slow down and dwell on the fears in his—and everyone’s—life.

Supported by a great supporting cast of Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, plus a great guest appearance by Zach Galafanakis, Reitman has created a fantastic slice of life picture that aspires—and succeeds—to be more than just that.