"Up in the Air"

The pervasive influence of lobbyists, teenage pregnancy and joblessness are nothing to laugh about. Yet director Jason Reitman has made three very funny films -- "Thank You for Smoking," "Juno" and "Up in the Air" -- addressing these topics. "Air," in which George Clooney plays a suave hatchet man who happily wields the ax when namby-pamby corporate types don't want to do their own dirty work, is the best of the bunch, a movie that manages to keep you laughing even as it slowly breaks your heart.

Based on Walter Kirn's novel of the same name, "Air" examines the world of Ryan Bingham (Clooney), a guy who jets around the country jettisoning workers from their offices. How does Bingham sleep at night? Quite comfortably, for the most part; he sees himself as a solitary man on a mission. Insults from his victims bounce off of him and their hysterical tears just roll off his back.

In an environment that regularly puts profits ahead of people, Ryan Bingham is a hero. But is this someone we really want to get to know? Yes, Reitman insists.

As "Air" unfolds, Bingham begins to look more and more like the lost son of C.C. Baxter, the status-seeking accountant Jack Lemmon played in director Billy Wilder's 1960 Oscar-winner "The Apartment." Baxter curried favor with his bosses by loaning his bedroom out to executives who needed a private getaway for illicit affairs; Bingham willingly does managers' dirty work for them in exchange for a generous salary. Baxter wanted to climb the ladder, but Bingham has even loftier dreams: He wants to rack up millions of frequent-flier miles to savor the premium perks they bring.

If Bingham is sounding more and more like a thoroughly loathsome personality, that's not the way Reitman sees him and it's certainly not the way Clooney plays him. "Air" realizes there is often a gap between what someone does for a living and who they really are -- and despite his outwardly impressive appearance, Bingham is not Mr. Success. His non-stop travel is a convenient cover for the way he runs away from commitments, from his family, from anything that reeks of stability. "Last year, I spent 322 days on the road, which means I had to spend 43 miserable days at home," he says in his narration. If home is truly where the heart is, Bingham would prefer to leave his in his barely furnished apartment.

In the hands of an actor less capable than Clooney, Bingham might be a very cold fish indeed. But Clooney uncovers the man's humor and wisdom, even his charm. So by the time Bingham finds himself involuntarily shackled to a take-charge trainee named Natalie (the outstanding Anna Kendrick), we find ourselves feeling sympathy for him. And when Bingham encounters Alex (Vera Farmiga), who's almost his equal when it comes to racking up time on the road, we start to hope maybe Bingham has found his perfect match.

"Air" might also be seen as a companion piece to Clooney's earlier "Michael Clayton," another story in which a seasoned pro suddenly realizes the life he's been enjoying is no longer viable. Like Clayton, Bingham begins to question what lies ahead, especially now that Natalie and Bingham's disturbingly upbeat boss (Jason Bateman) are pushing the idea of firing employees through video conferencing instead of going through all the trouble of doing it face-to-face. "The slower we move, the faster we die," Bingham tells an audience in one of his motivational seminars. "We are not swans -- we are sharks." And if Bingham is forced to settle down, he may well be a dead duck.

Reitman and co-writer Sheldon Turner have sandwiched some marvelously witty dialogue into this screenplay, and Clooney, Kendrick and Farmiga make sure every line hits its target. While Kendrick's Natalie embodies every awful trait of the recent bright-eyed business school grad (from the solemn stare to the curt tone she uses when addressing people she doesn't want to know), she's using those tactics to hide a deep well of insecurities. Like a little girl dressing up in Mommy's clothes, she has the right essentials but she doesn't quite know how to put it all together yet.

Alex is another story. Farmiga portrays her as a slick, seen-it-all veteran of the corporate wars who dresses classy, talks sassy and moves through a room as if she fully expected everyone to be watching her. "You're so pretty," Natalie gushes in a rare moment of candor. "You're exactly what I wanna look like in 15 years." Although Alex is too polite to tell Natalie she's got a long way to go, that sentiment flashes across Farmiga's eyes.

When I first saw "Up in the Air" at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, I was so impressed by the performances and the splendid writing I initially overlooked one of the film's most distinctive qualities: Even though its central figure is a man, this movie is a veritable goldmine of superb roles for women. In addition to Alex and Natalie, both of whom turn out to be just as complex as Bingham, there's also Bingham's borderline-neurotic sister, Julie, expertly played by the versatile Melanie Lynskey. In her uneasy phone conversations with her brother, you can hear many years of disappointments and let-downs, and when she asks Bingham to help her with a project for her wedding reception the concept she's come up with is both nutty and, when you think about it, truly sad. While her brother bounces all over the country, Julie and her fiance (Danny McBride) can't even scrape together enough money for a honeymoon trip.

That increasingly wide gap between the haves and the have-littles lingers in the background of "Air" as Bingham contemplates charting a new course for himself. At least he's in control of his own fate: The people he's thrown out of work have little more than Bingham's freeze-dried inspirational slogans and the prospect of an unemployment check to comfort them. But, as this captivating comedy-drama reminds us, nothing is permanent.