Year: 2009 Rated R Genre: Comedy, Inspired by Book, Romance, Language: English Runtime: 1:49:00 Director: Jason Reitman ☆ Main Cast: George Clooney ☆, Vera Farmiga ☆, Anna Kendrick ☆, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis, J. K. Simmons, Sam Elliott
Notable Mentions: Anna Kendrick as Natalie. Walter Kim, author of Up in the Air, the book
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Light topic. Easy to enjoy.
What I like about the film:
1) Anna Kendrick; 2) The showcase of the life of a nomad, Mr. Empty Backpack, who works for a human resources firm that specializes in assisting other companies with terminating employees, which also served as the backdrop for the film.
What I didn't like about the film:
1) Like we're supposed to believe terminating employees via video calls is a revolutionary idea. It's not that deep. Even by 2009 standards. 2) George Clooney's character's empty backpack speeches. While I don't question a man can hold his beliefs, I doubt his beliefs are so widely accepted that there would be that many organizations that want to hear from a guy, who propagates abandonment of relationships and responsibilities for personal freedom as the way of living. In his sister's words, what kind of fucked up message is that?
