DEFENDING YOUR LIFE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Find out where Southern Californians go when they die. Albert Brooks's life-after-death comedy is charming and fun, but sidesteps substance. Rating: low +1.
Albert Brooks writes, directs, and stars in subtle little comedies about human foibles. He has a good feel for small characters and a good ear for dialogue. His MODERN ROMANCE has him wooing a beautiful woman with whom he is unable to get along. His LOST IN AMERICA has him quitting a good job in a fit of pique and then going out in an RV to discover a real America that is not what he thought it was. Each gives a hint what he thinks life is about, but it is open to some interpretation. In DEFENDING YOUR LIFE he turns to fantasy so instead of hinting he can come right out and state his values.
A Brooksian character, Daniel, dies on his birthday and finds himself in a very Californian view of an afterlife. In Judgment City he is given a hearing to defend his life and the way that he has led it. At stake is whether he will attain a higher plane in the next life or not. Rather than just hint at his values, the way Brooks as screenwriter did in previous films, he now can posit a heavenly host who can say, "This is the standard by which you will be judged." And his standard comes down to "Be brave." If you do not insist on the salary you think you deserve, if you do not take a chance on your investments, if you do not have sex with someone when you want it, it will be held against you in Brooks's afterlife. Ethics count for nothing. Helping others if not done in a spectacular feat of courage counts for nothing. Courage is what counts. What could have been a view into Brooks's personal philosophy suffers greatly from the apparent shallowness of that philosophy.
At heart then, the film misses a chance to be about something profound and instead is just another film like L. A. STORY and SCENES FROM A MALL about California values. This particular vision of Limbo-adjusted-for- Californians is a vision of what Brooks thinks his contemporaries would like in an afterlife. It is garish hotels and gourmet food. You can eat as much as you like without worrying about calories, cholesterol, or capacity. During the day you have hearings on your integrity as a person, then at night you can go hear a comic or see what you were in previous lives in a sort of upscale convention center.
Brooks's character meets and falls in love with the perfect woman, Julia (played by Meryl Streep). She is easy-going and affable and was a hero in her previous life. Julia is not so much a woman as a walking good example. She is sailing through judgment while Daniel is having serious problems with a strident prosecutor (played by Lee Grant) and an enigmatic and strange attorney played by Rip Torn.
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE is diverting, but the ending is weak and the philosophy is shallow. I rate it a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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