George Clooney’s always been happy to play the guy who’s got his act together. So one of the many pleasures that Up in the Air offers is to see Clooney playing a together guy who realises that even the most together guy in the world needs other people, and once you need other people… well, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Up in the Air kicks off with Ryan Bingham (Clooney) about as happy and content as a man can be. He’s got a job he loves working for a company that specialises in firing people, and while he doesn’t actually love firing people, he does it well and with compassion and spending four-fifths of each year away from what passes for home (an apartment that looks like a hotel room) suits him down to the ground.

He has a promising relationship with fellow traveler Alex (Vera Farmiga), who describes herself to him as “you, but with a vagina”, and while his sister’s wedding is looming all he’s been asked to do is stick a cardboard cutout of the lucky couple in front of various sites of interest across the country and take a photo.

The real clouds in his sunny day start when his boss (Jason Bateman) announces that technology has finally caught up with their business; under the guidance of whiz kid Natalie (Anna Kendrick, AKA Jessica from the Twilight films) they’re going to start firing people by teleconference, and it’s Bingham’s job to take her on the road to help fine tune the system.

Learning follows, just not in the way you might expect.

Director Jason Reitman (Juno) has turned Walter Kim’s novel into the kind of smart and funny film that most Hollywood comedies only wish they were. This film gets just about everything right, but deserves special praise for its dead-on take on corporate culture, from the callous flow-charts for firing people efficiently to a business conference party featuring a guest appearance from (the now not-so-) Young MC.

Clooney might not have the biggest range in the world, but his performance as a man who has complete happiness so long as he doesn’t let the world touch him in any real way is spot-on. And while the film itself doesn’t force the issue, the scenes showing time and again just how devastating being fired is (Reitman interviewed a number of people recently fired in real life and used some of the footage here) do tend to suggest why Bingham has chosen to cut himself off from the world outside transit lounges and hotel rooms.

Perhaps the best part in a film filled with insight, comedy and genuine human warmth is the way it doesn’t short-change the audience with a sappy or obvious ending. Not only is it a film about growing up, it treats its audience as grown-ups, which is a lot more refreshing than it should be.

Up in the Air opens in cinemas on January 7, 2010.
You can view the Up in the Air movie trailer here on TheVine.