Comments on: Adrift and up in the air http://moacir.com/donkeyhottie/2010/02/03/adrift-and-up-in-the-air/ Revolution! Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:48:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Evan http://moacir.com/donkeyhottie/2010/02/03/adrift-and-up-in-the-air/comment-page-1/#comment-26826 Evan Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:26:09 +0000 http://www.1984produkts.com/donkeyhottie/?p=1915#comment-26826 Like Bryan, I agree you have the gist of the movie. Its a story that beckons to the lifestyle of the modern professional, primarily solitary. Bingham is much like the rest of us, a product of his environment. The movie is our window into Bingham's, looking in well down the path of life he has been on. Ryan is as comfortable a loner in the business world as there can be and who of all things, terminates people as a living, one of the most precarious moments in our lives. We can only assume that this isn't what he initially wanted as a career. (Perhaps he wanted to be a self help guru; with a philosophy that somehow has gone awry.) The irony in the piece being that of all people, he is the one who should have "his line" used on many years ago. Somehow though he has slipped through the cracks in a career that thrives in a murky economic state. He has spent such a long time in his career that he has supplanted his dream, whatever that may have been, for an arbitrary frequent flier mileage number. I argue that 10,000,000 miles isn't a goal and a lifetime achievement award Ryan believes it will be. It simply represents a passage of time, much like turning 50, deserving of an announcement on a flight from Chicago to Des Moines. We can see Ryan's malaise on his face that says "this is not all it's cracked up to be", the occasion is marked with a light conversation and some cheap sparkling wine. But you are not supposed to feel sorry for Bingham at the end of the movie. It is Ryan's experience with Alex, that he was finally able to appreciate what it meant to have a home life; and for a moment, he desperately wanted it. In the end he is who he is though, a man comfortable being without a home or family. The movie speaks to the events and actions life takes us down (being fired, getting married, breaking up); and life's routes and avenues we don't have control over. It might seem all we can do is treat people well, pick a flight, and enjoy the ride. Like Bryan, I agree you have the gist of the movie. Its a story that beckons to the lifestyle of the modern professional, primarily solitary. Bingham is much like the rest of us, a product of his environment. The movie is our window into Bingham’s, looking in well down the path of life he has been on. Ryan is as comfortable a loner in the business world as there can be and who of all things, terminates people as a living, one of the most precarious moments in our lives. We can only assume that this isn’t what he initially wanted as a career. (Perhaps he wanted to be a self help guru; with a philosophy that somehow has gone awry.) The irony in the piece being that of all people, he is the one who should have “his line” used on many years ago. Somehow though he has slipped through the cracks in a career that thrives in a murky economic state. He has spent such a long time in his career that he has supplanted his dream, whatever that may have been, for an arbitrary frequent flier mileage number. I argue that 10,000,000 miles isn’t a goal and a lifetime achievement award Ryan believes it will be. It simply represents a passage of time, much like turning 50, deserving of an announcement on a flight from Chicago to Des Moines. We can see Ryan’s malaise on his face that says “this is not all it’s cracked up to be”, the occasion is marked with a light conversation and some cheap sparkling wine. But you are not supposed to feel sorry for Bingham at the end of the movie. It is Ryan’s experience with Alex, that he was finally able to appreciate what it meant to have a home life; and for a moment, he desperately wanted it. In the end he is who he is though, a man comfortable being without a home or family. The movie speaks to the events and actions life takes us down (being fired, getting married, breaking up); and life’s routes and avenues we don’t have control over. It might seem all we can do is treat people well, pick a flight, and enjoy the ride.

]]> By: Bryan http://moacir.com/donkeyhottie/2010/02/03/adrift-and-up-in-the-air/comment-page-1/#comment-26791 Bryan Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:34:37 +0000 http://www.1984produkts.com/donkeyhottie/?p=1915#comment-26791 I think you basically hit it: The movie is a bit of a mess. I wanted it it end after the shot of Bingham drinking alone, in his hotel room, after Alex says "He's lost" -- not for any real judgmental reasons, but because at least I would have some idea what Reitman was saying. I'm all for movies that aren't explicitly pro-family, but I never got the sense this one wasn't, nor did I get the sense that it was. I got the sense that there was a calculation that George Clooney as Bingham is so cool that putting more scenes that seem "profound" involving Bingham was the goal, even if they didn't necessarily make sense. Might lead to some nice moments, but that doesn't make it coherent. I said it depressing: What I should have said is that I <i>wish</i> it was depressing. I wish it was anything. I think you basically hit it: The movie is a bit of a mess. I wanted it it end after the shot of Bingham drinking alone, in his hotel room, after Alex says “He’s lost” — not for any real judgmental reasons, but because at least I would have some idea what Reitman was saying. I’m all for movies that aren’t explicitly pro-family, but I never got the sense this one wasn’t, nor did I get the sense that it was. I got the sense that there was a calculation that George Clooney as Bingham is so cool that putting more scenes that seem “profound” involving Bingham was the goal, even if they didn’t necessarily make sense. Might lead to some nice moments, but that doesn’t make it coherent.

I said it depressing: What I should have said is that I wish it was depressing. I wish it was anything.

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