Description:
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who travels around the country to various workplaces and conducts employee layoffs on behalf of bosses too cowardly to do it themselves.[5][6] Walter Kirn stated in the film’s press notes: “Ryan is like a masseur who comes in and sort of rubs your shoulders while rolling your desk chair into the elevator.”[7] On occasion, he delivers motivational speeches about the virtue of a relationship-free life, often using a backpack analogy. He relishes the comfort of being anonymous during his perpetual travels.[8] He does not have a personal life and chooses to stay away from his family. He is close to achieving his personal goal of 10 million frequent flyer miles.
During his frequent flying, he meets a woman named Alex (Vera Farmiga) with whom Ryan starts to pursue a casual relationship. Ryan receives a business partner, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a young, ambitious, but still naïve Cornell graduate. Against Ryan’s wishes, his company chooses to ground him and keep him at the corporate headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska after the introduction of a new efficient layoff system introduced by Natalie.[9] Ryan counters that Natalie knows nothing about what it takes to fire people, and the company suggests that Ryan take Natalie on his travels to show her what the company does. Ryan begrudgingly accepts.
Cast:George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
