Up in the Air (2009/I)

......The opening credits roll over a montage of aerial shots of the ground as seen from an airplane in flight, as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings sing "This Land Is Your Land." The plane lands and we see a series of talking heads -- people who have just been fired. Their reactions run the gamut from incredulousness and sadness to anger, and are directed at Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who is sitting calmly behind a desk. He works for CTC, Career Transition Counseling. In a voice-over, Ryan introduces himself: "I work for another company that lends me out to pussies like Steve's boss, who don't have the balls to sack their own employees." There's a quick montage of retaliatory actions a disgruntled fired employee might engage in (pouring bleach in the coffee, sniper shooting), and we see Ryan offer a pat, sincere consolation to Steve, a fired employee.In a hotel room, experienced traveler Ryan expertly packs his suitcase. We see him drop off his rental car at an airport, bypassing the vacationers in the airport to check in at the frequent flyer desk, and powering through security with practiced moves as his voice-over lyrically describes the airport as his home. In first class, the stewardess asks him, "Cancer?" He looks at her quizzically. "Cancer?" He is confused, and she holds up a soft drink can, repeating, patiently: "Can, sir?" He shakes his head quickly and politely declines.Next, Ryan gives a motivational speech, "Unpacking Your Backpack," where he admonishes a thin crowd in a non-descript hotel meeting room to consider how uncomplicated their lives would be if they didn't have responsibility for so many things: knick-knacks, photos, furniture, homes, and relationships. "Imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It's kinda exhilarating, isn't it?" The crowd is underwhelmed. Back at the airport, Ryan strides into a frequent flyer lounge flashing his membership card, where he is cheerfully greeted. He calls his office and talks to Ned, an assistant, who tells him that he has been invited to speak at GoalQuest XX in Las Vegas as a motivational speaker. Ryan is excited; GoalQuest is a very high-profile conference. He is transferred to his boss, Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman), who asks him to come back to Omaha by the end of the week for big news. In a Dallas Hilton bar, Ryan begins trading frequent traveler observations with an attractive blonde business woman, Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga). They compare perks cards, and she's impressed by his American Airline Concierge Key. ("Carbon fiber?" she inquires. "Graphite," he responds modestly.) She mentions that she flies about 60,000 miles a year, and Ryan politely says, "Not bad." She challenges him to disclose his mileage number. The challenge turns into verbal foreplay as she teases him on the size of his number. "Is it this big?" (Holds hands a few inches apart.) "this big?" (Holds hands further apart.) He mentions that he has a lifetime mileage goal in mind, but won't say what it is. Later, they swap stories about the most outré places they have had sex, and she declares that she has done it in an airline lavatory on a regional flight. They end up in bed together, and later compare calendars to see if they will be in the same town sometime soon. She decides to return to her room, and he agrees that that would be the "ladylike thing to do...........