Movie: 'Up in the Air' Describes the Workforce

The latest George Clooney flick, "Up in the Air," serves as a humorous and heartbreaking illustration of the reality of work, as well as new versus old in the workplace. The film (directed by Jason Reitman and in limited release) is about a guy named Ryan (Clooney) who travels the country firing people for a living. Ryan is so artful at firing people that he really does manage to make you feel as if getting fired might give you the chance to follow your dreams. The movie touches on several conflicting work emotions of the day: fear of losing one's job; looking at unemployment as a new opportunity (funemployed); how to balance both work and life, etc.

It also brings up the theme of Millennials and new media taking the workforce by storm, perhaps awkwardly at times. A young, new employee named Natalie (Anna Kendrick) creates a computer program to fire employees via the Web, thereby cutting the need for travel (which outrages Ryan, who is most comfortable in an airport). The Ivy League grad is the stereotypical smart-yet-naive, Web-savvy Millennial worker -- but her character isn't flat, and evokes the conflicts of young working women today. She reveals her desire for the seemingly impossible goal of wanting both a family and a stellar career, and at times represents the disappointments that over-coddled GenYers face when they enter the workplace and discover it is difficult to have it all.

Natalie is put under Ryan's tutelage to learn the ropes of the business, and she discovers the personal nature, beyond the computer screen, of cutting someone off from his livelihood. One of the many funny points in the film is when Natalie tells Ryan and his love interest, Alex (Vera Farmiga), that her boyfriend broke up with her via text. Ryan zings back that it's kind of like firing someone over the Internet.

"Up in the Air" is interesting and funny; I would call it "upliftingly depressing" (and there's much more to the plot than what I describe). Both Natalie and Ryan, despite their age difference, are flawed characters who have much to learn about work and life.

Watch the trailer: