George Clooney: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Ryan Bingham - Up In The Air (2009)

As the world slowly dripped through the depressing net into recession, depression and disaster, Clooney offered one of his most critically lauded performances as a corporate downsizer, employed specifically to terminate superfluous staff members, as well as giving motivational speeches. Yet again, Clooney soars in a role that shouldn't be likable. He's acting on behalf of a deeply troubling machine, destroying lives, which we see snippets of, very smartly populated by recognisable actors so we know exactly how much we should care about them being cut loose. His pink-slip carrier - Ryan Bingham - has no real life, though he has business success, because the downsizing business is booming, and his company keeps him perpetually on the move, and it takes both the introduction of a young upstart rival, and the chance for romance for him to realise the error in his ways. The film crucially is never over-sentimental about Bingham, and nor does it go out to overtly demonise corporate America, or romanticise the victims too much (though there are touching moments,) and instead it stays committed to a gentle black humour, wrapped in a tender character story about a man trying to save his job, and to save himself from his job at the same time. Clooney is utterly sympathetic - which is impressive given the character's story - and his mix of charisma and comedy is the perfect answer to the heavier subject matter.