Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) fires people for a living. In theGolden Globe-winningscreenplay adapted by Jason Reitman, Bingham is an aging downsizer who lives in a "cocoon of self-banishment" until he meets his match in Alex (Vera Farmiga) and gets partnered with a techno-savvy youngster Natalie Kenner (Anne Kendrick) who may be the future of Bingham's company as it itself downsizes. Amidst the flying, firing, and banter, relationships start to rise from lives that were previously blinded to love.

The movie is unexpectedly charming. I'm not a Clooney fan, and the movies I've liked Farmiga in have not been happy-happy, joy-joy movies. But the story of Up In The Air is the story of people finding themselves and finding each other. The whole idea is that we are ships passing in the night, or the more likely comparison to U2's"Moment of Surrender": "I did not notice the passers-by, and they did not notice me." We're toobusy and too self-involved to see the world as we know it, whether we're picking up trash every morning and missing the sunshine, or running the company and failing to build relationships with the people who work for us.

Bingham takes this to a whole new level, though, as he "preaches" his mantra around the country to other people who want to get pointers on how to fire and not care with his seminar "What's In Your Backpack?" He thinks having a wife and children is foolish, that everyone dies alone, and that family is full of obligations that just aren't worth it. Bingham is the classic example of the person who has lost community after deadening his sense to everything around him. He's totally numb to the idea that love could matter and that maybe he needs someone to care for him and someone to be cared for by him. So, what drives him?

In a moment that can only be taken seriously in the context of this movie, Bingham tells both of the women who try to impact him that he wants to be one of the seven people who make the Million Points Club for frequent-flyer miles and hotel stays. Ironically, this leads into a discussion about how all men fear their mortality and want to leave a mark; women are exempt from this judgment because they have the opportunity to have children and therefore leave a living legacy. It's sort of a morbid take on life, but at the same time, we all want to know that our lives, our blood and sweat and tears, matter in the bigger picture.The points are just Bingham's way of making a name for himself.

I will say that I wanted more for Bingham than he found in the end, but maybe this is more "realistic." In today's society there are unfortunately plenty of people to fire, and plenty of bosses who can't do it themselves. Up In The Air questions our philosophies on life, what's "fair," and how we try to find meaning or just dull the pain. It's a parable for our story, and like a parable, it's open to many interpretations.