Up in the Air - Page 2

I particularly enjoyed the delicious irony of his failed relationship with Alex having been the catalyst for his change. He had avoided serious relationships for most of his adult live because, we assume, he was afraid of getting hurt. But when he finally attempted to get seriously involved with Alex he did get hurt. But he learned and grew from it.

gwsat: "Although Ryan (Clooney) did get blindsided when he discovered to his shock and surprise that Alex (Farmiga), who had been happy enough to have a steamy affair with Ryan, had a husband and children. Alex didn't really mislead Ryan and I believe in the end Ryan thought so, too."

Me: But Alex lied to Ryan about her lifestyle. She told him she was just like him, but with a vagina. I assume that's why he felt comfortable about showing up at her place unannounced. He would assume she would be living alone in an apartment with no commitment to turning it into a home. No?

To say that Alex didn't mislead Ryan is off base. She surely did. Maybe not at first, but by the time she was invited to his sister's wedding and he spent the day showing her around places from his childhood, she should have felt the need to tell him that she was married. Most people would've, or at least known that they were being misleading.

I thought the ending was just fine. Ryan undoubtedly feels different about family; both his family or the prospect of starting his own, so it's ironic (and sad) that he gets called back to the road.

I think that by her own lights, Alex's comment to Ryan that she was just like him, only with a vagina, was correct. She proved the truth of that over and over again when she was with Ryan, it seems to me. That kind of conduct in the minds of most people would be antithetical to the presence of a husband and children in her life.

Alex may have used bad judgment when she accepted Ryan's invitation to his sister's wedding but maybe not. After all, Ryan went out of his way to make clear how far he habitually would go to avoid commitment. Thus, the last thing Alex thought would ever happen would be for Ryan to become serious enough about their relationship to show up at the front door of her home. That's why I gave her credit for having been acting in good faith.

If I'm not mistaken, Alex goes beyond telling Ryan she's like him but with a vagina. I think she actually encourages him to "Think of me as you, but with a vagina" or something to that effect.

Now, considering everything that came before, Ryan's first hand observation of the way Natalie (Kendrick) is affected emotionally by her job vs the way he handles it, his newfound insight into what his niece needed from his future nephew-in-law, the way his hot neighbor needed to move on rather than remain on standby ready for him between business trips and so on, Ryan probably should have concluded that "him with a vagina" would be a very different kind of person. Everyone else in the movie with a vagina certainly is a different kind of person than he is and much of the road trip he's taking seems to be teaching him that lesson, except for Alex...or so he thinks.

Maybe there was an "I needed that" slap in the face issue at work behind his bizarre decision to show up at Alex's place unannounced. Maybe we were to take Alex's encouragement to "Think of me as you, but with a vagina" as a moment when this movie was challenging him (and us) to start putting the lessons of this road trip together, even if that isn't exactly what she meant by it.