[.ca] Real Life (Widescreen)

From Amazon.com:
Just as The Twelve Chairs is one of Mel Brooks's least-known movies and most deserving of rediscovery, so is Real Life, the first feature film by Albert Brooks (no relation), a buried treasure. An expansion of one of the short films Brooks created for the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live (and when will someone release those on video?), Real Life takes its cue from An American Family, the landmark 1973 PBS documentary that unflinchingly captured on film the life and gradual dissolution of the wildly dysfunctional Loud family. As a satire of the media's intrusion into our lives, it would make an ideal double-feature with The Truman Show. Brooks stars as himself, a comedian who, he states, would have been a scientist had he "studied harder or been graded more fairly." Though obliviously unqualified, he is spearheading a project that endeavors to capture a year in the life of a typical American family. Charles Grodin stars as put-upon Warren Yeager, the Phoenix, Arizona, veterinarian who watches helplessly as the callous Brooks overwhelms his life. (At one point, Brooks makes an entrance in a clown suit to cheer up the depressed brood.) Frances Lee McCain costars as Grodin's wife, who develops a crush on Brooks. "I'm a shallow fellow," he insincerely dissuades her. This docu-comedy is vintage Brooks, but so dryly deadpan that the uninitiated might not be in on the joke. Among the scenes that are classics in the Brooks canon are his hilariously inappropriate production number that launches the film (he belts out "Something's Gotta Give" to the locals), his cheery dismissal of the unnecessary but union-imposed film crew ("See you at the premiere!"), the revelation that Mrs. Yeager's gynecologist is a notorious "baby broker" previously exposed on 60 Minutes, and the increasingly fractious production meetings in which an old-Hollywood producer (listening in on speaker phone) insists that Brooks cast James Caan as a neighbor. Real Life was cowritten by Monica Johnson, who later collaborated with Brooks on Modern Romance, Lost in America, The Scout, Mother, and Harry Shearer (from another classic mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap), who also appears as Pete the cameraman. --Donald Liebenson

Love him or hate him:
Albert Brooks is one of this culture's most revealing litmus tests. Some people don't find him the least bit funny. The fault was once believed to lie in Brooks's "understated, subtle-to-the-point-of-non-existent" humor. New findings, however, point to a flaw in the brain of the viewer. Specifically, the congenital underdevelopment of a region in the Occipital cortex known as "Schmegegy's Area", long thought responsibe for sense of humor. While it's not a serious brain disorder, the name of the syndrome is "Serious Brain Disorder". Real Life isn't the funniest movie of all time. That honor belongs to Modern Romance. Real Life is the second funniest movie of all time. The "Airport" line is my favorite. Buy at your own risk. If you don't love it, you've self-diagnosed yourself as having a most unfunny brain.

If not another side of Albert Brooks, at least another facet:
As a (comparative) young'n, I first experienced Albert Brooks through his movie Defending Your Life, which I adored for years (still do). I checked out each movie after that ("Mother" and "The Muse") with equal glee. Having finally checked out his previous films, I was amazed to find that "Real Life" and especially "Modern Romance" are rather different beasts from the inventive but largely harmless later works. Brooks in his prime is not just a brilliant satirist, but a master of the goulishly uncomfortable situation! Observe the palpable fear given off by Charles Grodin as he tries to dissuade Brooks from showing the footage of him losing one of his patients (he's a veterinarian, so he loses a horse. Big animals are funnier than little ones.) on the table due to his error. Or check out the "put your couch pillow over your face and scream silently" scene in "Modern Romance" where Albert calls a random woman in his roladex, having just broken up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Of course, the uncomfortable nature of the scene is intensified by the fact that Albert has just taken two quaaludes before making the call. Watch him confess his love to a woman who he later admits, "I'm not QUITE sure who she is or where I know her from." Wow! A long way from the clever but unassuming takes on the afterlife and the misadventures of a greek muse in the 20th century. The closest he's come in recent films is "Mother," which I had the mis/fortune of seeing with my own mother! What a relief that my own laughs of recognition were covered up by hers, as she related all of the matronly satire to her own mom! Since everybody in this set of reviews is naming their favorite lines from "Real Life," I'd like to mention two of mine, during the great "testing possible candidates for the project" section of the film. More than just about any humorist I can think of, Brooks' jokes here are so under-the-rader, they're almost invisible. "The participants were put through an enormous battery of tests. How many tests? Well, if you were to convert the tests to eggs, there would be enough eggs to feed the entire city of New York for three weeks, based on a two egg per person per week diet. Sound confusing? It was." "Participants were given fifteen tests, such as this one here, Test #85." Albert Brooks is such an underrated comedian and filmmaker, he's probably always going to be seen as a second-tier artist (at best). Admittedly, just about all of his films contain some sort of flawed element or something that just doesn't really work, but my God, the man just keeps on trying SO HARD. Every three to five years, he releases a new and completely entertaining and remarkable film to a society that might vaguely remember him from Saturday Night Live, and who seem to be slightly miffed that he hasn't taken the hint and quietly disappeared. I'm so admirous of him.

I'm not the Indian rubber man..........................:
This may be the funniest movie I've ever seen. I have watched it countless times and I never get tired of it. You have to watch this more than once to catch everything. Albert is SO obnoxious and SO egotistical to the point of utter madness. One of the funniest scenes is when Dr. Cleary abandons the project. You've got to see it to believe it. There are so many unforgettable funny lines in this film, too. "I'm not a scientist, I'm a comedian, I can afford the luxury of honesty." SEE THIS MOVIE------STUDY IT------WORSHIP IT

Hysterical Life at 24 frames per second:
Albert Brooks started his career as a comedian for the tonight show and made short sketches for Saturday Night Live. In REAL LIFE he stars as Albert Brooks a comedian who made short films for a Saturday Night comedy show with appearances on other late night talk shows. In this, his directorial debut, he films the entirety of someone's real life, but falters because the cameras automatically make the 'real life', false and troublesome. Charles Grodin is hysterical as the head of the chosen household, and is given much of the hysterical material. His scene with a veterinary operation is stellar. And much of the humor is punctuated by the consistent appearance by cameramen, wearing an obscene and silly contraption, sort of a camera helmet. (Harry Shearer is one of the cameramen...) Still, by the films end, this is a well-executed one-joke comedy and like other Brooks films, the structure suffers by the third act. REAL LIFE is a funny film and a great start for Brooks. A must for fans of his work...

Don't miss the Trailer:
This has got to be Albert Brooks near his best. A real funny movie. Make sure to get the DVD version of this with the extra interview with brooks (circa 2001) and don't forget to watch the trailer for this movie also on the DVD. It is hysterically funny and as good as any scene of the movie.