Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

poly-12 Ok. I watched Defending Your Life last night, and I repeat, How have I not heard of it??It's perhaps in a related cadence to My Dinner With Andrei, or Mindwalk, or What the Bleep Do We Know, except those movies are all terrible and I bleeping hate them.DYL was snappy, wise, absurd, a last joyous spasm of 80s cleverness, several times hilarious... Definitely following a _vision_.Also a very clear, prosecutable antecedent of The Good Place. "You know, on Earth we have these things called strip malls." "Yeah, we started getting them here, too. I never go, I don't like yogurt and I trim my own nails."If you enjoy the TV show The Good Place, you'll appreciate going back to an earlier source. Just watch it.

serafinogm This movie should have been the denouement of Albert Brooks advancement as an actor. He was terrific, he was real, he was believable, he was entertaining, he had arrived and everything was just going to get better, yet it never happened. Sure he has been successful and he's experienced a degree of success that the majority of us (in particular me) could only dream about but his laid back witty, effortless acting style appears not to have caught fire, now the both of us are 69 and unless either of us can pull something out of a hat (never happen for me) our pinnacles are behind us and it's all down hill from here. Despite what has occurred to Albert's acting career this movie is a must see and it has the terrific Meryl Streep, as well as Rip Torn, Lee Grant, and Buck Henry (quite the cast). Watch this film and I promise you'll enjoy it, it's time well spent and the ending sequence is a tear jerker! Oh and Albert is far and away the reason this film is so enjoyable! He's a hoot! I discovered this film bombed at the box office, I am quite pleased that, in my small way, I helped pad the numbers!

mark.waltz I believe that Albert Brooks is an acquired taste; From "Mother" with Debbie Reynolds to his earlier films "Lost in America" and "Modern Romance", his films have been hit or miss with me. This one is a hit. Funny, spiritual, life affirming and filled with truths that are sometimes hard to face, it is what I refer to as a popcorn movie where the air is already buttery enough to add the flavor and prevent the fat. It's a chance for Meryl Streep to show a lighter side, pretty much not act, and just be. Why this wonderful character had to die so young leaving children behind is tragedy in itself, but as we've heard heaven to be described (for those of us who believe that it exists), she has a light hearted attitude that makes it clear that she's already an angel watching over her children, and for her eternity, she's going to have whatever kind of friendship with the other heavenly newbie, Albert Brooks, that heaven allows.The story focuses on Brooks, having been killed in a car crash while looking down from the steering wheel trying to pick up a CD (a warning for those who text or talk on the phone while they drive....), and his entry into the preliminary entrance of heaven is filled with a mystery. Will he be able to make it out of the courts of heaven, or will he be doomed for the other alternative that is given (presumably reincarnation, no real mention of hell is given), looking doubtful thanks to the tough attorney in favor of sending him back. By chance, he meets Streep, is overwhelmed by her lovely, self effacing nature, and while she goes through her hearing with no issues, it's his that is in question, which threatens to separate this odd couple before she can even get on the tram for her final stop in the world of eternal life.There are tidbits of heavenly magic here; All you can eat pasta with seafood that does not make you fat (makes me not want to sin right there just thinking about it), other worldly comics who comment on "This is the first day of the end of your life", and a visit to a hall of reincarnation where a surprise guest star mocks their own self image by hosting what Streep, Brooks and a bunch of others get to see themselves in as having been prior to their last life. Streep hands the film over to Brooks who goes out of his way to get the majority of the jokes, but her reacting to him only makes her seem better. Veteran actors Rip Torn and Lee Grant are the defense and prosecutor in Brooks' case, and while Torn is easy going and the kind of guy you could play golf with on a sunny Saturday morning, Grant is a ball-busting tough feminist style "take no prisoners" shark. As footage from his life, displaying his lack of courage in taking risk, is exposed, you might fear what would come out in your own hearing, although for me, simple atonement and the realization of the sin of "oops" helps me get past that embarrassment. The writing is brilliant, satirical, not in favor of any one religion, but definitely spiritual in nature to where it uses the freedom of one's own mind to allow the viewer to agree or disagree with what's going on, yet never becoming aggressive in its views of what they are telling us to expect in the great beyond. For that, I have a great deal of respect for this movie which is simple light entertainment, but really has a lot to make its audience open up the ideas of what's more important than the temporary lives we live on earth.

Armand Death. And a small definition. Nothing complicated. Ordinary ingredients. An car accident, a new universe, a man and a lady, a love story as prize. And, more that, Meryl Streep as same impressive presence. A film about guilty and errors in a strange note. Comedy in the forms of childish reflection about important things and regrets, expectations and life leaves. A story about the connections and happiness. A game of sentiments. And Albert Brooks virtue is the courage to explore , carefully, a delicate subject in warm nuances. A Sunday film who may be beginning of small questions. About past, feelings and regrets. And about any Euridice.