Defending Your Life (1991)

Simply A Masterpiece

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This movie should have been the denouement of Albert Brooks advancement as an actor. He was terrific, he was real, he was believable, he was entertaining, he had arrived and everything was just going to get better, yet it never happened. Sure he has been successful and he's experienced a degree of success that the majority of us (in particular me) could only dream about but his laid back witty, effortless acting style appears not to have caught fire, now the both of us are 69 and unless either of us can pull something out of a hat (never happen for me) our pinnacles are behind us and it's all down hill from here. Despite what has occurred to Albert's acting career this movie is a must see and it has the terrific Meryl Streep, as well as Rip Torn, Lee Grant, and Buck Henry (quite the cast). Watch this film and I promise you'll enjoy it, it's time well spent and the ending sequence is a tear jerker! Oh and Albert is far and away the reason this film is so enjoyable! He's a hoot! I discovered this film bombed at the box office, I am quite pleased that, in my small way, I helped pad the numbers!

This is a favorite of mine because you could watch it as a pure light rom-com, but it is conceptually very intriguing and cleverly done. The idea of Judgement is about as deep as it gets, but the gimmicks involving the food, the Little Brain vs Big Brain thing, or the Past Lives Pavilion keep it fun. Albert Brooks and Rip Torn are fantastic, and the if Meryl Streep was never more adorable, The themes of fear and how we perceive life and death are ever present and cause one to wonder: Meryl or Albert, which is closer to you? The cameo by Shirley McClain is classic! Albert Brooks' writing is funny, poignant, and intelligent. I really like a movie that can both entertain and provoke, and that is what makes this a favorite of mine. It is neither the funniest or most provocative, but a blend it successfully achieves as well as any movie I can think of.

An optimistic film about the afterlife! Probably the best film Albert Brooks has ever made. Usually overlooked on Meryl Streep's "Filmography". A terrific screenplay. A few of his concepts are certain to offend someone as it suggests "past lives via reincarnation". A brilliant supporting cast: Rip Torn, Lee Grant, Buck Henry, Shirley MacLaine (as the curator of "past lives"). It starts out a little slow, but stay with it. "Daniel Miller" has to die for the action to begin: Daniel pays more attention to his music than his driving and gets hit by a bus. (No gore, however.) In the next scene, he is on an electric tram heading for "Judgement City" to defend his life and all the fears that us "little brains" have. Is this Heaven? No. "But some of your new little mini-malls come close". While in Judgement City you can eat all you want without gaining weight and the food is "fast, fresh and delicious". Where is Judgement City? High above the Earth where we all expect Heaven to be. If Daniel wins his case by defending the decisions he made in his life, he gets to move on to the next higher level of existence. If he loses, he gets sent back to Earth to try again. Rip Torn plays his defender, Bob Diamond. Lee Grant is the prosecutor. Meryl Streep plays his love interest, Julia, who had the perfect life until she tripped on the patio furniture, hit her head, and fell into a backyard pool. ("I shouldn't have died, I was a terrific swimmer.") I rank it up there with other all-time fantasies such as "Here Comes Mr. Jordan","Heaven Can Wait" and "Oh God!". Far from "perfect" movies, but compelling to watch with a haunting quality. Apparently, many of the reviewers who didn't like it failed to understand it. Judgement City is not Purgatory, it is a way station. Also, not all the "persons" who staff the place are entirely heavenly in nature. They are flawed, just like us humans. One of my all-time favorites. If it was a VHS tape, instead of a disc, I am certain I would have worn it out already!

Robert Monroe, founder of The Monroe Institute, calls Judgment City, "Level 27" where people go after death to process their previous life and debrief for their next life. Military and lay people have trained at this institute and learned to access various levels of consciousness. According to those who have been to Level 27, this movie is dead on!This movie was instrumental in a personal assessment of life and the challenges we came to the planet to handle. Our fears rule our experience here--small fears to big fears we are constantly limited by reactionary thinking. True courage through confronting our fears is what this movie is all about. It will put you right in that 'courtroom' as you recall the times you could have stood up for yourself and failed. A shot in the arm for the fear flu!