Year of Release: 1991
Director: Albert Brooks
Starring: Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Lee Grant, Buck Henry, James Eckhouse, Mary Pat Gleason, Raffi Di Blasio, Lillian Lehman, George Wallace
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Synopsis and Review:
Actor/writer/director Albert Brooks followed his well received "Lost in America" feature, not to mention his lauded and nominated performance in James L. Brooks's "Broadcast News" with "Defending Your Life", which premiered in 1991. The film follows the story of Daniel Miller, a well regarded professional working in advertising, who is celebrating his birthday. He bought himself a new convertible BMW, but suffers a fatal car crash and finds himself in Judgment City. This city and locale is a place where the recently deceased are judged for what they did while alive, upon which a decision is made to either send them back to Earth, live again while learning from their past mistakes, or evolve into a new phase of existence. Daniel has a shrewd prosecutor, Lena Foster, who is intent on proving he is driven by fear, and essentially has learnt nothing from all his past lives, and a defense professional in the shape of Bob Diamond, who as he states, uses 51% of his brain, and is on a different level than Daniel and all the souls awaiting judgement.
While in the city Daniel meets Julia, another soul awaiting her verdict, and they immediately bond and are attracted to each other. As they both go through their trials, they become closer and closer, not knowing what lies ahead.
"Defending Your Life" falls into the category of the romantic comedy which takes place in the afterlife, or has ties with the afterlife. This is a category where such films as Warren Beatty and Buck Henry's "Heaven Can Wait", Alexander Hall's "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and even Alan Rudolph's "Made in Heaven", to name but a few, have made an impact. Albert Brooks has always cultivated a persona across the films he's in which can typically be described as a cynical, literate, somewhat romantic, not to mention funny persona, someone who always has his challenges with women, but who eventually always finds a way to charm the lovely focus of his affection (a slightly different version of the neurotic persona Woody Allen has created). In "Defending Your Life", which Brooks also wrote and directed, his persona is very much in alignment with his previous films, but this time around, he uses the afterlife to make some observational humor about relationships, families and embracing life itself. Daniel's journey in this film, is one of discovery, but also one where he has a chance to reflect and look on his past, sometimes with some humor, sometimes with sorrow. It's a film that has good intentions and some humorous details (the different hotels, the fact the souls who can eat all they want, to name but a few), but it ultimately fails to register, since most of the supporting characters have little to do, or ultimately provide a faint backdrop to his character. Meryl Streep who has never looked better, has very little to do, with a character who has very little substance, and is essentially in the narrative to fall in love with the central hero. Rip Torn and Lee Grant while creating colorful performances, also have little to no dimension to their characters. It's a film that is watchable, with some humorous moments, with beautiful cinematography from the wonderful Allen Daviau, but one that is ultimately forgettable.
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