Review of Defending Your Life (1991) by Jessicaann D — 26 Jul 2007

I recently watched this film again, because I remember loving it so much when I was younger. I remember thinking that this was one of the most original ideas I had ever heard of for a film and that it was funny and sweet. All of these things I remember, and all of these things remain true all these years later.

The story follows Daniel (Albert Brooks who also wrote and directed the film), a yuppie who drives his brand new car into a bus and wakes to find himself in Judgement City, a sort of land between life and death. Here he has five days to defend his life in a sort of relxed courtroom before the judges decide whether he will continue on his journey or whether he has not lived a complete existence and must therefore return to earth to try again.

In Judgement City, he meets Julia (Meryl Streep who glows throughout), a sort of perfect woman who has lived a perfect life and is pretty much guaranteed to be moving on. As their relationship grows, Daniel grows as a person and finds that he now has something to live for, but it is too late.

Many Albert Brooks films are funny in the male struggle aspect, but falter in the love story, however this story is entirely believable. The chemistry between Streep and Brooks is serious and by the end of the film you are itching to see them end up together.

The humour is also great. Brooks has always been good at one-liners, but he gives a lot of great work to Rip Torn as his defender. Torn and Brooks are a great combination.

I suppose what I love about this movie is that it has a message, but doesn't beat you over the head with it. It is not Christian, or any other religion, in fact it mocks humanity for being "little brains", instead the film is trying to tell us that if we let our fears rule our life has our life been worth living?

Just great.