Comparing Up in The Air: Book vs. Movie

The book and the movie are just about as different as night and day.

Reitman seemed more focused on Ryan Bingham’s (played by George Clooney’s) job of firing people, and Walter Kirn’s novel was more focused on Bingham’s journey towards a new firm known to him only as mythtech. Many of the scenes where people are fired are not in the book, and Reitman cut MythTech out of the movie completely.

I liked the story of MythTech – a company that Bingham has only heard whispers of – and the fractured nature of Bingham’s life in the book. Something is always lost when the narration of the character’s interior monologue translates to the screen.

I also like the angle that Reitman took the movie focusing on the difficulty of firing people in a down economy. It definitely spoke volumes in our present recession, and Reitman used people who actually had lost their jobs.

Basically, I don’t think the two really are comparable. I liked the ending in the movie, but I also thought I would share the ending of the book for those who don’t mind spoilers:

Basically it turns out that Bingham’s fractured life has come full circles and he has been having seizures that make him forget certain things. It is a kind of twist ending something like fight club. He has been doing things that he doesn’t remember. The ending in the book is somewhat confusing, but he ends up donating a lot of his miles to charity (similar to the movie where he gives it to his sister and fiance).

Conclusion? They book and movie are so different that it is hard to compare them.