Three quarters of the way through this film I find myself thinking: "This is hardly a George Clooney film". I'm sitting in a cinema during an afternoon session filled with youngsters who are still on holidays.
The camera goes from the Hollywood heavyweight's big brown eyes to the distraught faces of ordinary workers reacting to being sacked.
The leggy girl in the seat on my left squirms and pulls her feet up onto her seat so she's in a fetal position sitting up.
The boys behind chat a little. They're watching older people's reactions to being sacked by a professional down-sizer, Ryan Bingham.
He's completely honest with people about what he stands for - friends and family only weigh you down. He likes to travel light.
The story unfolds as you'd expect until Ryan Bingham sister's wedding when we're blinded by glints of sunshine on honey sweet moments. Where's the razor's edge? The sting is right at the end.
This isn't a comedy at all - it's more a charming (it's George Clooney) light (light probably pays for the heavy stuff like Syriana) drama.
This is not a movie that you'll never forget but it's one that lingers.
It's about the way people relate to the world and each other today.
And it's about being two-faced.
This guy's a fool - a fool in the old sense of being wise, knowing too much, seeing too much - and he's not actually what he pretends to be and that is an emotionally shallow "prick".
He's found a way to get surefire results - frequent flyer points get him what he needs.
It's much easier to pay for attention - hairdressers, hair removers, personal trainers listen because they are being paid to and they give the impression of "caring".
Ryan earns attention through his frequent flyer points - he's satisfied to be greeted by name and receive VIP personal attention at all the airports and hotels. They make him feel at home.
So this is where he focuses his efforts and this is his "major" relationship - when he puts his efforts into making real connections the results are unpredictable.
There's the rub. It's a sales relationship.
This is a caricature of what is happening to people in our society - it's extended into the digital world now.
There's suspense and comic relief in the way focus shifts from people really listening to one another and when they're looking past the person who's speaking to them.
Ryan flies around the States sacking people for a living - but he tries to do it with as much compassion and understanding as possible because he knows these people are at their most vulnerable when he cuts them loose. He puts himself in their shoes - that's what he values.
This is the lesson he's teaching a young gunslinger who's just joined his company and the company likes her idea of saving money by centralizing business in Omaha - the place he calls home where he spends just 23 days of the year. She wants the company to keep its staff in the office and let them sack people over the internet. This is a good companion piece for Devil Wears Prada.
"What's it all about... ALFIE? Is it just for the moment we live?...."
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