Customer Reviews

Defending Your Life (Widescreen)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Albert Brooks is one of the most talented writers and actors around. I have been a fan of his for years and I believe this movie is a perfect example of his comedic genius. It's terrific!

Brooks plays the part of Daniel Miller, a young professional with everything to live for, who is suddenly killed in a senseless accident. He then finds himself arriving in Judgement City where he is expected to defend his life, or rather, the manner in which he has lived it. Only then will the "powers that be" decide if he is ready to move on to the next level or if he will have to return to life on earth to give it another try. Daniel is surprised to learn that the things he will be judged on are much different than he expected!

Albert Brooks has a very neurotic, self-deprecating sense of humor and he is wonderful in this movie! Meryl Streep is lovely as Julia, the woman that Daniel becomes involved with during the course of his "trial." The contrast between her experience in Judgement City and Daniel's makes for some of the funnier moments of the movie. And while Brooks is definitely the star of this show, Rip Torn steals more than his fair share of laughs in his role as Daniel's defense attorney.

This is an unforgettable comedy whose basic message is that life is full of risks and sometimes we have to overcome our fears and make a few giant leaps if we want to be happy. Do yourself a favor and watch it soon!

you'll find me at the Krispy Creme -- a steady stream of fresh, hot sweeties in one hand & a diet pepsi (I choose diet pepsi over regular, ok) in the other! No more carb worries, hooray!

It's really a shame more people didn't see this charming film -- terrific writing & acting! I saw it by accident when it first came out in theatres, always stop to watch it when I come across it on cable, finally have it on DVD and continue to refer to years later, unfortunately few people get the cinematic reference. In the meantime I continue to recommend it to all!

I really like Albert Brooks. His comedy films are so inventive and funny that it makes other comic fantsies pale in comparison. Having not seen Defending Your Life yet, I went out and rented it.

I loved this movie! It's about a man who dies and goes to "Judgement City", and has to defend the actions he took in his life. Some of the lines are so funny too! It gets richer and richer through each viewing. Plus, you'll probably end up watching this a few times, because you'll want to show it to your friends.

Albert Brooks is great as always, but it was a joy to see Meryl Streep. She adds so much to her role and creates some nice scenes with Brooks. However, I LOVED the ending. It was one of the most satisfying I'd seen in a while, and it made me feel great inside.

I still can't believe Albert Brooks writes, directs, and stars in most of his works. I hope he continues his creative stretch for many more films to come.

A perplexing movie in that I don't really think it is all that good. Yet I continually come back to it. This is one understated movie from beginning to end. A couple of unexpected bumps would have been a welcome relief. It is a fairly ingenious plot but Brooks does little to develop it. There is nothing special about the characters, the acting or the humour. You have no real reason to cheer for the Brooks character, the Streep character is boring and, far too often, the movie settles for banal and effortless chuckles. Given the premise, there is plenty of opportunity for Brooks to say something profound, wry or witty. But he never does. The ending is pedestrian and devoid of insight. Heaven seems to be the most mundane place possible. I'm not sure I want to go there.

And yet, I have watched this movie many times and, everytime, catch myself sitting on the couch with the most idiotic smile on my face throughout the film. For that reason, and the fact that I invariably spend a couple of days afterwards wondering how my life would stand up to the same type of scrutiny, the film gets 4 stars. So, maybe in some devilishly subtle way, the movie does work after all. Despite everything I've said, I like it. I just don't know why.

While I'm here, someone help me out. In his review, does LP Quagmire really think Mel Brooks and Albert Brooks are the same person? Or have I been punk'd by a brilliant piece of sham idiocy?

This is just a masterpiece. A perfect combination of humour, great acting, intelligent script, romance, and a lovingly ending. Ah! And a great music score too. Rent it, bought it, borrow it, whatever. Just don't miss this one.

Love this movie. Adore it. This is such a wonderful film. I have been a huge Albert Brooks fan for many many years and all of the films he has directed are top notch. I would put them in this order: 1. Defending Your Lfe 2. Modern Problems 3. Lost In America 4. Real Life 5. Mother 6. The Muse. They are all some of the best comedy dramas you will ever see...Period. In many ways he's like a non-threatening version of Woody Allen (and I mean that in a nice way-I love Woody Allen's work too)if that makes any sense. *A little trivia for you...Albert Brooks' brother is James L. Brooks director of Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets and he is also the longtime producer of The Simpsons.

Albert Brooks can be a prickly entertainer for some folks. The general consensus seems to be that he's like Woody Allen with less neuroses but more anger. But *Defending Your Life* can be a Brooks film for people who don't care much for Albert Brooks. This is his most accessible movie. Having said that, it should also be said, however, that Brooks' conception of the Afterlife is probably the toughest-minded ever conceived for cinema. The idea is you're basically put on trial after you've died: you get a defender, but there's also a prosecutor. Your entire life has been "put on tape", and the "lawyers" for and against you use this tape as evidence to support their respective cases. What's at stake? The reward of moving on to the "next level". (Heaven, presumably.) If you lived your life BRAVELY, you get to move on. If not? Back to Earth you go: you have to start all over again. Albert Brooks apparently doesn't go along with the most current dogma whose Heaven seems to allow any mediocrity to crash the party. To be surfeited on mothers'-milk pop psychology won't cut it. No! You have to EARN your eternal reward! (Though Brooks IS easy on the children: they get a free pass.) The movie's premise is pretty brilliant, and is equaled by the execution: this fantasy stays true to its logic throughout, and there are many comic touches along the way. While Brooks and his thousands of fellow-recently-deceased await the outcome of their "trials", they pass the time in "Judgment City", which rather resembles Orlando, Florida. (They all arrive by trams, as if they're getting a lift from their parking space to the ticket-windows at Disney World.) In Judgment City, the defendants stay in hotels of varied luxury. Brooks' new Afterlife girlfriend, Meryl Streep, is lodged in a five-star affair . . . while he's stuck in the "Continental" (somewhere between a Best Western and Holiday Inn). Other fun details include an ability to eat all you wish without worrying about weight gain; a "Past-Lives Pavilion" hosted by (well, I won't spoil it); miniature golf courses where it's always a hole-in-one, etc. The set design for *Defending Your Life* deserves special mention. Utilizing real locations and brilliant matte paintings, the sets manage to convey a real sense of place, despite the fantastical nature of the story. Performances? Brooks doesn't have to work hard -- the premise does that for him. As noted in another review here, Streep in unusually sweet in this film, thereby adding Very-Nice-Person to her dramatis personae. (And she doesn't cry once!) Rip Torn almost steals the movie as Brooks' bluff defender. And look for a very funny Buck Henry in a cameo part.

I saw this movie on TV, and thought it was pretty good. I'm sorry to all Albert Brooks fans, but I really think this film belonged to Meryl Streep.
A considerate, adoptive mother who died by tripping and hitting her head on concrete, Streep's character is hilarious. Other people in the movie are good too, and you should really see it.

Albert Brooks, known for his non-mainstream movies, and also for writing, as well as performing in his own movies, shares the screen with Meryl Streep and Rip Torn in this charming story of what happens after we die.

Whoever picked the actors for their roles deserved an Oscar, as the chemistry is perfect between them. The premise of the movie is that
a soul goes to a Purgatory-type place and the previous life is prosecuted, defended and judged in a court of law as to whether it will move on to become a higher-intelligence inhabitant of the Universe, or go back into another body and try again until they get it right.
Rent, buy or steal it, but make sure that you view it.

Albert Brooks is dead. So is Merryl Streep. Can they find true love together, anyway?

In a temporary afterlife, where an elite group of brains (led hysterically by Rip Torn and Buck Henry) decide your fate.

If you conquered your fears during your life on Earth, you get promoted in your next life to a better world. If you didn't -- then it's back to that horrible little Earth for you.

Streep, perfection in white, will be moving on up. Brooks, who manages to look uneasy and neurotic while wearing heavenly robes, almost certainly seems doomed to another round on the third planet.

Yet Streep and Brooks seem somehow made for each other. Can he beat the system and keep his new love? Or will separate reincarnations on different worlds keep them apart forever?

"Defending Your Life" is a delightfully heretical comedy, with a gentle touch of blasphemy and many honest laughs. It's Albert Brooks' best movie since "Broadcast News," and he hasn't done anything as good since.

A wonderful date movie -- just make sure you both have some Kleenex.