“Up in the Air” soars with great acting and interesting plot

Ryan Bingham makes a living firing people, flying from location to location and doing the dirty work for businesses across the country. He exchanges relationships for airline rewards. And he likes it that way.

"It's awfully isolated, the life you live," his sister tells him via cell phone during a routine layover.

"Isolated?" Bingham asks, looking incredulously at the travelers passing him by. "I'm surrounded by people."

Director Jason Reitman ("Juno", "Thank You for Smoking") artfully mixes humor, travel metaphors, and star power (George Clooney) to successfully tackle the complexity of growing up in his latest film, "Up in the Air." The chemistry of Bingham (Clooney), his love interest and equal Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), and the effervescent, young idealist Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) is snappy and quickens the pace of a movie that can be downright depressing at times. However, it's the candid realism that sets this movie apart from anything playing in the theaters at the moment. It's both timely and thought-provoking.

The story opens with Bingham flying and giving the occasional anti-motivational speech at various functions in different states "Your relationships are the heaviest baggage in your life," he says, sounding perfectly content. Then the firing firm he works for hires Keener (also known for her role in the "Twilight" series), who advocates a virtual firing policy, where people at the firm can stay home and fire people via computer anywhere in the world.

Suddenly, Bingham finds the balance of his perfectly ordered life of isolation disrupted. Staying in one place? Terrifying.

The rest of the movie follows what is to be Bingham's last time in the air, with Keener along for the ride. His growing relationship with the beautiful and adventurous Goran, marriage of his younger sister, and young Keener's starry-eyed dreams of a career and family make Bingham rethink his life and concept of relationships.

Now, don't get me wrong. "Up in the Air" contains no preaching or drippy sentimentalism. Clooney's Bingham effortlessly reflects on what his life has become, and whether or not it actually fits his personality. Though the mood is grim, the witty dialogue and genuine moments of enlightenment lighten the heavy load.

Kendrick is a joy to watch. She commands her overachieving character with a vulnerability that is easy to identify with, and her individual growth keeps the film from droning on in Bingham's moments of loss.

It's impossible to walk away from "Up in the Air" without a new take on life. Is maturity really settling down and finding someone? Are relationships worth the pain and risk of rejection? Is sacrificing one's career for family life soul-crushing, or rewarding? In the end, what matters?

The fantastic open-ended finale will leave you wondering.