Wow. It balanced comedy, drama, and romance so well.
- Top notch cast all around.
- Amazing song choices and original score
- Amazing editing (shocked it wasn't nominated for editing in the oscars back then)
- Amazing screenplay (how did it not win the oscar?? As per my research, it won the WGA and BAFTA's for adapted back in 2010 yet it still lost the oscar, that's insane!)
I love how Ryan's character developed all throughout. A guy who flies 270 days a year and thinks that his relationships are temporary but fine and completely normal, only to be hit by reality once he and Natalie have to go back to base because the digital firing process takes place soon.
I love the jutaxposition of Ryan and his younger sister. She and her fiance can't travel due to financial reasons, while Ryan is the complete opposite. He can travel to a lot of these places and has the means and resources to do so. Also like how he gets declined to cut in line when he books the lounge for his younger sister's wedding-- something he is so used to having when in airports.
He misinterprets his romance with Alex as something real and his younger sister already has someone to walk her to the aisle-- he's been so out of touch of "reality" that he's realized that by the end of the film, he doesn't get as excited as he would have hoped when he hits the 10 mill mark. Was it all worth it? Was it as fulfilling as it should have been when in fact, what he really needed in life was genuine, human connection? It really hits deep and really makes his character have more depth. And I think a lot of people would relate to this.
"The miles are the goal"
"If I had that many miles, I would show up at an airport, look at the destination board, pick a place and go."
What's interesting here is while he did take Natalie's advice in the end, we actually don't know whether he's satisfied, trying to find a person to share his life with, etc. But it seems like he becomes the "swan" in his second conference speech.
"Star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans, we are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans, we're sharks."
He takes a 180-degree turn and becomes the swan-- searching for genuine human connection, and takes it slow by taking Natalie's advice, and presumably, and ironically, quitting his job to just take it all in and relax. This is how I interpreted it anyway. Right before the final scene of Ryan looking at the destination board, clips of people saying their experiences after unemployment was showed, which could have signified that Ryan's life after unemployment was to take Natalie's advice and just live life as he should have years ago.
What do you guys think?