George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham a man with no friends, no ties and essentially no home. He enjoys the anonymity of hotel rooms, airports and the lack of interaction his job gives him. Go in, fire people, never see them again. He lives for his life on the road and his goal of reaching the milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles while developing his motivational speeches called What’s In Your Backpack? Where he suggests unburdening yourself from all the emotional baggage in your life that other people bring.

His interactions are all snapshots and moments but his world changes twofold when he first meets a like minded individual in Alex Goran played by Vera Farmiga while in a hotel one evening who appears to be a female version of himself. There’s an initial spark between them so they decide that they can continue to play their friends with benefits game when work scheduling will allow. Secondly, his company decide a change is required and thanks to a radical new approach devised by an young, eager employee Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick, Clooney’s job will now be done via conference calls rather than in person. Clooney takes offence to this so he convinces his boss to allow him bring Kendrick on the road with him for a month in order to show her the value of the face to face work he does.

It then becomes a road movie of sorts as Clooney and Kendrick start to bond despite his best efforts and he almost becomes a father figure for her, these interactions are intertwined by an upcoming wedding which Clooney is obliged to attend despite it being the last place on earth he actually wants to be and Clooneys developing relationship with Farmiga despite it going against all his principals.

Its a movie that’s hard to classify, part comedy, part drama, part road trip but it all comes together to show how life can teach an old dog new tricks and despite any effort you may take to distance yourself, it’s impossible to go through life alone as you are inevitable dragged into situations which require interaction with others and human nature will always nudge you in that direction. Clooney is excellent as Bingham, believable in all facets of his actions, awkward moments and emotional turmoil. There also a clever use of duality with the title that can be interpreted as alluding to both the main characters time spent in flight and the fact that he is brought in to tie up loose ends when companies are downsizing coupled with the representation of the two female leads as Clooney’s alter egos in different stages of his life.

Overall an entertaining movie, even if you are left feeling a little empty afterwards, assisted by great acting from the three main leads. It’s not going to change your world now but I can understand how it would have hit home back in 2009 when America was going through the turmoil of a major recession.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10