Up in the Awesome.

I saw Up in the Air yesterday, which has been quietly, but steadily, building Oscar buzz in a year that has already seen one contender fizzle (by Amelia), another contender get pushed back (so long Shutter Island), and Mo'Nique bring forth one of the most searing performances in recent memory.

I'm not good at reviewing movies without spoiling them, so fair warning.

George Clooney plays a contractor sent to various cities to handle reductions in force in all sorts of companies. Yeah, so they like the recession. Movies that come this close to current politics (especially war movies) don't do well. In tough times, people like going to the movies for escape -- and for cheap entertainment. (Although, remember how I saw a movie in NYC over the holiday? Watching movies ain't cheap ovah thar.) But, oh, this movie is good. I guess, because it lives within the context of the current recession without directly commenting on it. We just happen to have a front row seat because the movie chooses as its protagonist someone who is literally on the front lines of Main Street's stroke.

That's pretty surprising in itself. This is show-don't-tell at its best. And by avoiding any final moralizing, Jason Reitman nicely lets each of the characters live their lives. They don't all have perfect little lessons learned. They just live in this snow globe that Wall Street grabbed and shook like an au pair (<---too soon?). George Clooney's character doesn't get ironically downsized, and his character hasn't been harboring some cancer that he uses as a crutch to avoid engaging with people. They make choices -- and those choices have consequences. And they react to those consequences like real people. (BTW, trivia fact -- some of the firings that occur are of real people actually getting fired -- or something like that -- Google it.) It's strange that something so mundane as this should be a compliment -- but it's all too rare in movies.

On top of all this, you have amazing acting (Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, especially Vera, are amazing). FYI, Vera plays a 34 year old in the movie, looks 40, but is 36 in real life. She's basically a Mona Lisa. Gorgeous, in an untraditional way, and in a way that changes depending on which POV you use. FYI2, George Clooney only does one Dr. Ross head-bob in this, and you know what? It's well-earned. George plays a character that is uncomfortably close to his real life persona, with an emphasis on the shallowness and waste that potentially goes with that kind of life (see Julia Roberts in Notting Hill or Gabourey Sidibe in Precious as other fine examples of this). To me, that's a far riskier type of role than "looking ugly" (big whoop Nicole and Charlize). The inside-ugly is always worse. Way worse. (BTWs, George's lazy eyes are even farther apart than normal here. Uh... creepy.)

Final thought, (well, final big thought -- because I'm realizing that the central romance here has a lot of similarities to (500) Days of Summer -- another goodie from this year), is the movie's ruminations on loyalty. It's a nice irony that George's character is insanely loyal to Hertz, American Airlines, and Hilton (btw, niiiiice product placement -- better than Sony's in 2012), but hasn't figured out what that kind of loyalty could mean to him personally -- or what his role is in the "loyalty" of a company to its employees. I haven't fully figured this one out, but it totally got me thinking. And THAT is the best compliment I can give a movie.

Okay, if you still don't mind having the movie spoiled, I'm about to talk about the ending:

P.S. My one beef with the movie -- dump the final voice-over. The movie should have left it unclear as to what George was going to do at the Big Departure board. The VO suggests too much. It's American Beauty all over again. And not in a good way.