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Summary: A gem of a movie. Hilarious!
Review: I think this is still Albert Brooks' best movie. It is downright embarrassingly funny. A MUST in your film library. Guranteed laughs no matter how many times you see it!
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Summary: Don't call me retardo!
Review: I'm not going to write a review that's longer than the screenplay--suffice to say its Albert, its brilliant and no one makes movies like this. May I also recommend the one that started it all: Real Life.
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Summary: If you don't get it, you don't get it!
Review: If you are considering buying "Lost in America", please do so. I cannot improve on the great reviews already posted. Just trust the 5 star people. I laugh just thinking about this film. A must for any collection. True genius.
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Summary: The Best Albert Brooks Movie
Review: If you like Albert Brooks, you will love this movie. I have seen it 5 or 6 times and it's hilarious every time. There are too many great scenes to describe but one favorite is Brooks talking to an employment counselor after he and his wife have lost all their money gambling. He is in a nowhere town in Arizona and looking for a "$100,000 job".
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Summary: One of the funniest movies of all time
Review: No doubt about it -- Albert Brooks is a divisive presence in cinema. Some love him, some hate him and there's very little in between. Part of the problem, I think, is that Brooks has been willing to play characters that are truly awful people, including the manipulative and unctious director in Reel Life, the smarmy film editor in Modern Romance (raving in a 'lude-induced haze about how he's "Mr. Popularity" as he looks through his rolodex, or how much "i love my records" as he picks out "A Fifth of Beethoven"), and ad exec with all the wrong instincts in Lost in America (anticipating a raise, he practices his responses in front of the mirror: "Noooo -- that's MORE...") etc. etc. Lately though, Brooks has moderated his image (he's less the miscreant and more sympathetic in "Defending Your Life" and "Mother," and his turns in "Broadcast News" and "The Scout" are also a gentler form of Brooks).However you come out on all that, he's never been funnier than he was in "Lost in America." This is a wonderful film with many wonderful moments. My favorite may be his attempt to convince Garry Marshall, playing the manager of a Vegas casino where Julie Haggerty, as Brook's wife, has just lost every friggin penny they ever saved, to give them their money back; the best Marshall can offer in response, with evident self-satisfaction at his generosity, is "your room, your meals -- comped." Another great moment is when Brooks finally explodes at Haggerty for blowing their "nest egg," describes how a nest egg is supposed to work, and then forbids her from saying the word, or any part of it, until she understands it: "a nest is a . . a . . ROUND STICK . . ." I too have watched this film many times in video, which is rare for me. Its for sure a keeper and its the overall best Brooks film out there (although Modern Romance is pretty much all good until the Foley scene). Its not for everyone though: I once took it with me as the evening's entertainment when I was going over to a friends house for dinner. His family was extremely WASPY, fancied themselves "old money" and his father was a somewhat well-known ad exec at a firm that was long ago swallowed by one of the new breed of hungrier, less stodgy ad firms. The film wasn't on for 5 minutes before the family started bailing out of the TV room in evident disgust. Brooks can make some people very uncomfortable, but in my experience, they're usually the right people.
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Summary: "The Desert Inn has Heart! The Desert Inn has Heart!"
Review: One of the funniest movies for grown-ups EVER! Every confrontation scene in this movie (in his boss's office, in the casino manager's office, at the Hoover Dam, at the school crosswalk, at the unemployment office, etc.) is a comic gem! If you're reading this review, chances are you have already seen this movie. So what are you waiting for? Buy the DVD already! You need to keep this movie in your video library and make all your friends watch it. This movie has more memorable lines in it than The Godfather, Casablanca, and Caddyshack combined! Granted, not all of Brooks's films are stellar. Anyone see "The Scout"? Terrible! But "Lost In America" is on par with the excellent "Real Life" from a few years earlier. Watch that one and listen for his "airline VIP club/missing-the-point" rant. Not only is Albert Brooks (yes! his real name IS Albert Einstein!) a wonderfully talented writer and director, but he is a great actor, too. Remember, he got an Oscar nomination for "Broadcast News" in 1987.
Why can't all comedies be as funny as "Lost In America'"? And tell Julie Hagerty to stay away from the Roulette wheel.
Rating:
Summary: Lost In America
Review: Papa Villone asserts that "If you can manage to find more than four memorable quotes in a film, it's a classic of some sort." Well, Albert Brooks' 1985 film Lost In America is so stocked with great quotes that it's off Papa's meter: "MERCEDES leather? What's MERCEDES leather?" "I've seen the future and it's a bald man from New York!" "I like Wayne Newton. Are you saying I'M a schmuck?" "You can't even SAY the word 'egg' any more. When you go into the woods you see a bird's round stick. For breakfast you have THING'S with ham." "I'm losing my right eye." "What?" "I'm losing my right eye." "What?" "An adult should NOT get a bloody nose." This film is hysterical. I watched it over at Casey's house for the first time a few days ago. Casey said he'd already seen it five or six times and now I know why. Director, writer and star Albert Brooks has created the perfect yuppie comedy. An advertising executive in his thirties who is on the verge of buying a new house for he and his wife, which he's hoping to coincide with his long-awaited promotion to vice president, is called into his bosses office and learns that not only isn't he getting the promotion, all he's getting is a lateral transfer (from their LA office to their New York offices). In probably the finest job- quitting scene in the history of film, Brooks explodes in the most acerbic, articulate way everybody has always dreamed of when realizing all their years of hard work mean nothing. He leaves his job, talks his wife (Julie Haggerty) into quitting hers, and they decide to "find themselves" on the open road "just like Easy Rider." They sell EVERYTHING, buy a Winnebago and STILL have about 150,000 dollars to their name and head to Vegas. Brooks qualifies himself every time he has to deal with someone: "Hi, uh, my wife and I have dropped out of society, and..." They have enough money, he conservatively estimates, to stay on the road for the rest of their lives. That's before she loses their nest egg at the roulette table. Brooks the adman tries to talk the casino owner (Garry Marshall) into giving back the money. It doesn't work, but Brooks keeps pushing, trying to sell the casino on improving its image. ("I'm a high-paid advertising consultant. These are professional opinions you're getting.") There are other great scenes, as the desperate couple tries to find work to support themselves: An interview with an unemployment counselor, who listens, baffled, to Brooks explaining why he left a $100,000-a-year job because he couldn't "find himself." And Brooks' wife introducing her new boss, a teenage boy. The funniest aspect of the film, though, is the element of materialistic panic Brooks is able to squeeze out of his character. He's a typical A-type, potential heart-attack victim: he makes a lot of money (80K! ), but not enough; who lives in a big house, but is outgrowing it; who drives an expensive car, but not a Mercedes-Benz; who is a top executive, but not a vice president. In short, he is a desperate man, trapped by his own expectations. See this with your friend from Microsoft who got hired fresh out of high school.
Rating:
Summary: Lost In America
Review: Papa Villone asserts that "If you can manage to find more than four memorable quotes in a film, it's a classic of some sort." Well, Albert Brooks' 1985 film Lost In America is so stocked with great quotes that it's off Papa's meter: "MERCEDES leather? What's MERCEDES leather?" "I've seen the future and it's a bald man from New York!" "I like Wayne Newton. Are you saying I'M a schmuck?" "You can't even SAY the word 'egg' any more. When you go into the woods you see a bird's round stick. For breakfast you have THING'S with ham." "I'm losing my right eye." "What?" "I'm losing my right eye." "What?" "An adult should NOT get a bloody nose." This film is hysterical. I watched it over at Casey's house for the first time a few days ago. Casey said he'd already seen it five or six times and now I know why. Director, writer and star Albert Brooks has created the perfect yuppie comedy. An advertising executive in his thirties who is on the verge of buying a new house for he and his wife, which he's hoping to coincide with his long-awaited promotion to vice president, is called into his bosses office and learns that not only isn't he getting the promotion, all he's getting is a lateral transfer (from their LA office to their New York offices). In probably the finest job- quitting scene in the history of film, Brooks explodes in the most acerbic, articulate way everybody has always dreamed of when realizing all their years of hard work mean nothing. He leaves his job, talks his wife (Julie Haggerty) into quitting hers, and they decide to "find themselves" on the open road "just like Easy Rider." They sell EVERYTHING, buy a Winnebago and STILL have about 150,000 dollars to their name and head to Vegas. Brooks qualifies himself every time he has to deal with someone: "Hi, uh, my wife and I have dropped out of society, and..." They have enough money, he conservatively estimates, to stay on the road for the rest of their lives. That's before she loses their nest egg at the roulette table. Brooks the adman tries to talk the casino owner (Garry Marshall) into giving back the money. It doesn't work, but Brooks keeps pushing, trying to sell the casino on improving its image. ("I'm a high-paid advertising consultant. These are professional opinions you're getting.") There are other great scenes, as the desperate couple tries to find work to support themselves: An interview with an unemployment counselor, who listens, baffled, to Brooks explaining why he left a $100,000-a-year job because he couldn't "find himself." And Brooks' wife introducing her new boss, a teenage boy. The funniest aspect of the film, though, is the element of materialistic panic Brooks is able to squeeze out of his character. He's a typical A-type, potential heart-attack victim: he makes a lot of money (80K! ), but not enough; who lives in a big house, but is outgrowing it; who drives an expensive car, but not a Mercedes-Benz; who is a top executive, but not a vice president. In short, he is a desperate man, trapped by his own expectations. See this with your friend from Microsoft who got hired fresh out of high school.
Rating:
Summary: "Nest egg" of laughs.
Review: Probably the only great comedy ABOUT the Eighties. The criticisms that *Lost in America* doesn't have a strong plot and not much of a "third act" are substantially on the mark; but with Albert Brooks at his most acidic, should one really care? And yes, the main crisis -- Julie Hagerty gambling away their savings at the roulette wheel in a Vegas casino -- feels hastily conceived, even slap-dash; but again, should one really care? The movie barrels ahead on the strength of its set-pieces, its dialogue, and the continuous presence of the ceaselessly funny Brooks. In other words, *Lost in America* has more than enough going for it. Some of the great scenes in this gem of a movie include: Brooks' aria of outrage in his boss' office when he learns that he's not getting the promotion to VP at the high-powered advertising agency for whom he's toiled for years; Brooks' sales-pitch to casino-manager Garry Marshall that the casino should "give us our money back!"; Brooks' interview with a man at an employment agency in the small Arizona town in which they've found themselves stuck (employment agency man guffawing: "Well, I don't think we got anything 'round here that pays $100,000 a YEAR!") . . . and, of course, the great Nest Egg diatribe, which has become a comedy classic. As the movie progresses, the tone gets a little darker, a little sadder, as Brooks and his wife come to realize that it's too late to start over. Behind the hilarity, *Lost in America* imparts the painful lesson that the dreams of youth must be deferred during one's prime. Those dreams must wait for old age . . . if one is still around to act on them, of course. And the movie also has something to say about the Baby Boomer generation being forced to grow up. (*Easy Rider* has been relegated to nostalgic kitsch, here: it's a HIGHWAY PATROLMAN'S favorite movie!) In the height of the Reagan era, the Sixties -- along with all the baggage that term suggests -- were finished for good. Over and out.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: Pure comedy...that only Brooks can totally deliver!
The movie is a pure joy to watch, pure meaningless fun.
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