Defending Your Life
The First True Story Of What Happens After You Die
Daniel Miller was tooling along a Los Angeles street, listening to Something's Coming when something came - a bus. One head-on crash later, Daniel wakes up deceased. And his troubles are just beginning.
Double Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep joins writer/director/star Albert Brooks (The Muse, Lost in America, Mother) for a witty peek at the afterlife, where you can eat all you want and not gain an ounce. But there's a catch: you're saddled with Defending Your Life. If you can't make a case for having lived a full and fearless one, you must go back to Earth and try again. Daniel's life was far from fearless. But after he meets the remarkable Julia (Streep), he's determined not to go back. Yes, there is a laugh after death!
Member Reviews
Fantastic Premise - SchaeferSchwartz311
Albert Brooks' best quality is coming up with very original concepts. Look at any of his movies and you will see the genius that he is. Defending Your Life is no different. It's got laughs, some sad moments and some ingenious sci-fi moments (not in a classical sci-fi sense, however). Religious extremists beware... this movie does not depict the afterlife as you've all been told to believe in.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because the movie feels a bit bloated in parts and could have really used a few trims here and there. Look out for the scene where you see what Meryl Streep's life was like before she died. Hilarious!Smart, sweet and funny! - 1writer
This is such a fabulous movie! I have watched it a few times and each time that I rediscover it I love it just the same! The perspective of the film is unique and so much fun. The humor is dry and sarcastic and truly funny!
The chemistry between Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep is sweet, tender, light and funny. Both of these actors play their roles perfectly. Albert Brooks as the always neurotic and fearful character and Meryl Streep is effortlessly perfect and angelic.
As Streep waits in pergatory and Brooks must sort out his life and prove that he deserves to move on to heaven the two fall in love.
There are hilarious scenes in the "courtroom" of both Brooks and Streep as film rolls on the court screen that provides the argument for moving on to heaven or not. So much of it the humor is tongue in cheek and smartly done.
Great movie!Favorite of Mine - FilmJunkie
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.
Member Reviews
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Fantastic Premise - SchaeferSchwartz311
Albert Brooks' best quality is coming up with very original concepts. Look at any of his movies and you will see the genius that he is. Defending Your Life is no different. It's got laughs, some sad moments and some ingenious sci-fi moments (not in a classical ...Smart, sweet and funny! - 1writer
This is such a fabulous movie! I have watched it a few times and each time that I rediscover it I love it just the same! The perspective of the film is unique and so much fun. The humor is dry and sarcastic and truly funny!
The chemistry between ...Favorite of Mine - FilmJunkie
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, ...