Defending Your Life

Some of my friends might disapprove of this film, because they are theologically correct, and this film isn't. It's not their fault of course, some people just don't have a sense of humor when it comes to what they believe. (ed. note I wrote this a long time ago, and since then I've seen Hollywood culture hammer conservative Christians enough that my sense of humor has worn quite thin on the subject as well) I of course enjoy life when it's funny, and complain when it isn't. As for my afterlife, I believe what I believe, and a silly movie like Defending Your Life isn't going to change my mind.

The film starts with Daniel (Albert Brooks) being driven to a car lot to pick up his new BMW - a convertible (as a matter of fact, I believe it's the same car the heir apparent to the company I used to work for drives). He's moving up in the world - advertising or something like that, and is finally enjoying a bit of his success. He gets the car, says 'bye' to his friend, and takes his first ride in his dream car. It also turns out to be his last. As he's listening to his Barbara Streisand CD, he leans over to pick something up, and runs head-on into a bus (What an awful way to die - listening to Barbara Streisand). When he 'wakes up', he finds himself sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed down a long hallway (white, and brightly lit of course). At the end, he is helped out of the wheelchair, and placed aboard a tram, taking him to Judgment City. Judgment City (the tour guide points out) is closely modeled after a large west coast city - since Daniel died in a large west coast city. There are other cities for other areas, and a special city for teen-agers (seems they were always trashing things in the other cities). He gets to his hotel, where a bellhop shows him to his room, and advises him to sleep - he's had a long trip - and that he'll get his wake up call in the morning. The next day, after a quick breakfast and a tram ride from his hotel, he meets his lawyer (Rip Torn) who explains to him just what's going on. Life on Earth is just the first step in a person's existence, and when a person dies, he comes to Judgment City, where his life is evaluated. If, after evaluation, the person has conquered their fears, then they continue on to the next stage of their life, otherwise the person gets sent back to Earth to try again (this apparently doesn't apply to small children, they get bumped to the next level automatically). Apart from the ominous sounding name, Judgment City actually seems to be a cool place to visit. There are lots of things to do (after a long day defending your life), and fabulous restaurants - and the neat thing is, you can eat and drink as much as you want without worrying about your weight, cholesterol, blood alcohol level etc. (I guess that's one good thing about being dead, you can't get any deader). Anyway, after meeting the prosecutor in his case (Lee Grant), Daniel needs an evening out. He visits a comedy club, and after proving himself funnier than the comic on stage, meets Julia (Meryl Streep). Julia was a housewife who accidentally drowned in a swimming pool. The two of them hit it off. They spend most of their out of court time together; Daniel even stops by and sees how her trial is going. His isn't going to good - seems Daniel was just to nervous and uncertain to really enjoy life. After seeing Julia's, he begins to feel that things are not going to go in his favor. The final nail in Daniel's coffin (so to speak) is when he's too scared to spend his last night with a woman he has genuinely fallen in love with. The court decides to send him back. Heartbroken, Daniel gets in line to go back to Earth, and sees Julia in the line to move on. As the trams take off in different directions, Daniel finally finds the courage he's managed to avoid all his life (death?). He jumps out of his tram, and runs to the one Julia's in, braving traffic and some sort of temporal disturbance just to be with Julia. Back in the courtroom, they're all watching this, and decide that Daniel has in fact left his fear behind, and let him on the tram with Julia, where they both die happily ever after.

Albert Brooks is a strange guy - apart from being so neurotic he makes Woody Allen seem well adjusted, his humor is so low key as to be below the range of human hearing. This time, however, he managed to make a film most people could enjoy. There's a range of humor here, from the inaudible low key stuff (most of which he uses on Meryl Streep), to the fairly obvious, almost slapstick physical stuff (the attempt at bravery on a snowmobile), to the borderline insulting stuff (having Shirley Maclaine as the host in the 'Past Lives Pavilion' was almost a stroke of genius). This was one of his more successful films, and if you miss it in this life, well, maybe you can see it next time around.