Up in the Air worth the trip

For most of us stuffed-in coach flyers, licking pretzel salt off our fingers, air travel is undignified. Not so for Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who literally makes his home in the air and in airport executive lounges. His detached world is as crisp as the two white t-shirts that he packs in his carry-on luggage. As clean as the firings that Bingham conducts as an executive grim reaper, for companies too chicken-shit to do it themselves. Of course Bingham must land back on earth, thanks to an annoyingly eager young colleague, appropriately named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), and another frequent flyer, Alex (Vera Farmiga), with whom Clooney shares one of his sexiest scenes since Out of Sight with Anna Kendrick. Not quite a romance, Jason Reitman has developed directorial nuances since his satirically heavyhanded Thank You for Smoking, straddling the swank luxuries of an airline-points life and the snowy emptiness of parking lots in Anytown, USA. Ignore the excessive product placements, this one’s worth the ride.