Rating: 
Summary: This Film Made Me Smile Inside
Review: I really like Albert Brooks. His comedy films are so inventive and funny that it makes other comic fantsies pale in comparison. Having not seen Defending Your Life yet, I went out and rented it. I loved this movie! It's about a man who dies and goes to "Judgement City", and has to defend the actions he took in his life. Some of the lines are so funny too! It gets richer and richer through each viewing. Plus, you'll probably end up watching this a few times, because you'll want to show it to your friends. Albert Brooks is great as always, but it was a joy to see Meryl Streep. She adds so much to her role and creates some nice scenes with Brooks. However, I LOVED the ending. It was one of the most satisfying I'd seen in a while, and it made me feel great inside. I still can't believe Albert Brooks writes, directs, and stars in most of his works. I hope he continues his creative stretch for many more films to come.
Rating: 
Summary: More like a 4.5
Review: I saw this movie on TV, and thought it was pretty good. I'm sorry to all Albert Brooks fans, but I really think this film belonged to Meryl Streep.
A considerate, adoptive mother who died by tripping and hitting her head on concrete, Streep's character is hilarious. Other people in the movie are good too, and you should really see it.
Rating:
Summary: Daniel Miller (Brooks) shows that death can be funny.
Review: I think that Albert Brooks gave a masterful performance. This is one of my all time favorite movies. Dan ( Brooks) was always afraid of what others thought of him. When he goes to Judgement City there is a trial in which he did poorly because the trial was based upon fear. Dan (Brooks) mad his character so believble. I cried at the end. In the end ........... happened. You should see what happened. This was a great movie, it changed my life forever.
Rating:
Summary: Defending your Life ... a wonderful movie !
Review: I think this movie is just great ! It's a comedy and it's a warm story about a man who dies and goes to , well ..not to heaven yet, but a waiting station along the way where he must defend his life. It's just worth watching over and over as it made me laugh and think about the decisions we make in our lives and their consequences. It is definitely worthy of my DVD collection without a doubt !
Rating: 
Summary: No chemistry between Brooks and Streep
Review: I was disappointed with the movie, largely because to me it was totally unbelievable that woman like Streep's character would give the time of day to a nebbish like Brooks.
Rating:
Summary: Fun & Intelligent
Review: I would ignore John G's comments . . . . . intelligence IMHO is more than the cerebral limitations of our finite human minds. That's what makes this movie so entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever concept, lightweight film
Review: I've been hearing about what a terrific cult film this is so I had to see it. It's actually a very conventional boy-meets-girl flick, the only difference being this time it happens in the afterlife. Brooks' depiction of the "holding area" we go to after our demise, while we re waiting to see if we qualify for heaven, is amusing, but once there he does little with his premise except 1) have Brooks fall instantly in love with Meryl Streep and 2) sit through his worst moments of cowardice, which he has to defend with the help of his lawyer, played by Rip Torn, against a prosecutor, Lee Grant, who makes Marcia Clarke look like Miss Congeniality.
The two problems I have with this movie are 1) the romance is unconvincing. We never really see a moment of connection between the two--it's just instant love and "I've never met anyone like you" when they barely know each other, and it's more of a plot device than real character development. And 2) the film's ultimate message is muddled. At first the film seems to say those in the afterlife have it over us because of their superior intelligence--they use "more than 50% of their brains." They call us "little brains" and they delight in our inability to comprehend things that to them are so simple.
But when Brooks' character's trial begins, it centers on his not taking risks, not his intellectual inferiority. But risk-taking is inherently opposed to intelligent, rational, considered decision-making, which has at its core self-preservation and calculation instead of impulsiveness and immediate gratification. Thus it's hard to fault Brooks for what he does and doesn't do--here was the opportunity for some real moral dilemmas, but instead the film shows such minor transgressions that we should all hope our lives are so clean. (And this is a man whose career was advertising! Lots of opportunities here, all unused by Brooks.) On the other hand, Meryl Streep's character does well with the "big brains" in her trial. In one scene from her extraordianry life, Meryl rushing back into her burning house, after having saved her two children, to rescue the family cat. But I would argue that risking making your kids orphans just to save Fluffy is very *un*inteligent behavior. Have you ever heard a fire fighter praise a mother for leaving her kids at the curbside to go back in and get the cat? This is what pleases our keepers above? They're not very good keepers in that case.
The same is true of Brooks' final act: is running in front of a bunch of speeding busses something someone who uses more than 50% of his brain would do? After all, this is how he got killed to begin with.
Many readers will think I'm being overly-analytical for a comedy, but in a comedy of ideas the ideas have to work. Even a "brain dead" comedy like Bad Santa was *consistent* in its outlook.
The performances are rather bland. Albert Brooks is standard issue Albert Brooks, but even here I miss the more manic qualities he displays in many of his other films (Lost In America, Modern Romance, Broadcast News). This seems to be a "softer" Brooks, and it gets boring. Streep does the best she can with a really paper-thin role. We never get why she connects so strongly with Brooks after exchaning a few banalities with him, and if I were him I'd fear she were interested in me only because everyone else is over 70. Rip Torn does his typical comic stuff, but we never really get into why he's so laid back about providing a defense for Brooks, and there's a bit in the middle where he disappears for a day that is never really explained, since Brooks' defense doesn't go any differently with Torn's substitute (Buck Henry). The best person in the picture may well be Lee Grant, who attacks her role with zest and is credible as a tough-as-nails prosecutor "just doing her job."
Can't recommend this flick very highly, unless you're an Albert Brooks completist who must see every film he is involved with.
Rating:
Summary: my favorite movie, ever
Review: I've probably watched this movie a dozen times by now. Albert Brooks manages to make a huge life-affirming point (you can't move on to anything bigger until you face your fears) while also giving us a thousand little sweet sight gags and references to modern fads. There's witty banter between Streep & Brooks like we hardly ever see in contemporary movies. Every time I watch it, I see and enjoy something new about it.
Rating:
Summary: The hereafter doesn't look so bad in this picture
Review: If aluminum cans, newspapers, and glass bottles can be recycled and used again, why not souls? Albert Brooks presents a witty, funny, and enlightening comedy about the hereafter where the newly-deceased are judged and determined whether to progress on to a higher level or be sent back to earth and try again in another life. According to Brooks, we all have to overcome our fears and use more than three percent of our brains during our lifetimes to be judged favorably in Judgment City, everyone's post-mortal destination. Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, and Lee Grant lead a supporting cast that combined with Brooks' fine acting and writing, make for a very entertaining film that can be enjoyed over and over again. I remember seeing a film on television back in the early seventies titled "Adding Machines" that had a plot quite similar to "Defending Your Life". However, I have never been able to find a copy of this film on videocassette anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be afraid to watch this film!
Review: If you can imagine at the end of your life a review is done, and this review is a reflection of how much you lived in fear or how you faced that fear and went on with living - then this is the film for you. It is very funny with powerful transforming ideas.
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