'Up In The Air' Flight Delayed Until December 4; Clooney Vs. Clooney Showdown Crisis Averted

Whew! Don't worry George Clooney, you will no longer have to face off against George Clooney. Yesterday, the internetz (and us) were all a tizzy that Clooney's "Up In The Air," directed by Jason Reitman, would have to compete against the Cloonster's "Men Who Stare At Goats" directed by Clooney, friend and production partner Grant Heslov. While the "Up In The Air" launch was only a limited release to start out and 'Goats' would go out wide, both films were scheduled to hit on November 13th

Wouldn't this mean a lot of similar junket and press time? Would George have to choose one film to promote -- his easy lay-up Oscar-shot with Reitman or his kooky military comedy, 'Goats,' again directed by the man who runs a production shingle, Smokehouse Pictures with the star?

Not wanting to test loyalties, Paramount has veered off the road in the Clooney Vs. Clooney game of theatrical chicken and will now release, "Up In The Air" on December 4th. Crisis averted!

If this were another film that hadn't yet been seen and not seemingly poised to score multiple Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director are all very plausibly in the running), 'Air,' would probably be the victim of a lot of film blogger suspicions as it has changed its release date seemingly at least three times now (no? are we making that up? It feels like December 4th was an old date as well), but such as it is, the Reitman-directed film should really have no worry as people have practically glowed after seeing the film.

We never did write our TIFF '09 review and at this point, perhaps we never will, but suffice to say, "Up In The Air," is a solid B+, but maybe not the sure-fire Oscar winner that everyone is claiming it is. It's a strong movie, but it wasn't quite as touching and emotionally moving as one thought it would be.

Regardless, "Up In The Air," hits theaters in limited release December 4, expands on December 11 and goes wide on December 25.