Lost in America | | Cast : | Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty | | Director : | Albert Brooks | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | February 15, 1985 | | DVD Released Date : | April 03, 2001 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 16, 2005 | | Summary | Yuppie love gets the road test | Content
 | Los Angeles ad agency exec David Howard (Albert Brooks, who also directed and with Monica Johnson co-wrote the script) doesn't get the promotion he expected. In fact he's being sent to New York. He blows his stack, does a "you can take this job and shove it" routine and is out the door. He tells his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty, whom I recall as the flight attendant in the very funny Airplane!(1980)) that this is all for the best because, like his hero from the movie Easy Rider (1969), he wants to quit the rat race, drop out of society and just get on the road and see America.
She too quits her job. They sell the house, consolidate their cash, buy a Winnebago and hit the road. How wonderful it is going to be!
Well, no. Of course things go haywire. I'll leave the details for you to observe while noting that this is a funny and ultimately charming movie, a romantic comedy for the already married done in a low-key manner ending in yuppie irony.
See this for Albert Brooks whose modest career includes roles in some fine flicks most notably, Broadcast News (1987), and Taxi Driver (1976). |
| Rating | | | Date | March 27, 2005 | | Summary | Sharply Funny Attack on Yuppie Values Resonates Still | Content
| It's been almost twenty years since I last saw this 1985 movie, but it remains Albert Brooks' funniest and most scathing in its view of the pretensions of yuppie America in the mid-1980's. In a screenplay co-written with Monica Johnson, Brooks portrays David Howard, an over-the-top ambitious, Type-A creative director at a big advertising agency in LA. Upon being bypassed for a big promotion in a hilariously biting scene, he decides to shuck it all, including a new expensive home he just bought, and convince his wife Linda to join him on a cross-country journey to "touch Indians" in a bid to capture an "Easy Rider"-type escape fantasy. In typically insulated fashion, Brooks cannot let go of all his materialistic tendencies, as he decides to do it in an oversized Winnebago with all the amenities and a nest egg of $150K. What he doesn't realize is that Linda was feeling even more trapped by their possession-oriented lifestyle and in a night of cathartic release, loses almost all their money at the roulette table at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.
How David and Linda deal with their sudden downward mobility provides the film's funniest moments: David's ad-man pitch to the Desert Inn casino owner (played with amiably controlled ferocity by director Garry Marshall) to get his money back; interviews with a baffled drug store owner and an equally baffled unemployment counselor in the small Arizona town where they park their mobile home; David humiliated, angry and envious as a school crossing guard; and the teen-aged Der Wienerschnitzel manager praising Linda to David on her detection of frozen French fries in the deep fryer. Some of the dialogue is priceless, especially when David explains to Linda how she can never utter the words "nest" and "egg" ever again. Brooks also inserts hilarious catchphrases like "Mercedes leather" and "a hundred thousand dollars!" with comic precision. My favorite line is David's self-description to the casino boss..."I'm a high-paid advertising consultant. These are professional opinions you're getting."
As an actor, Brooks' persona is as acerbic as ever and luckily doesn't have the somewhat gooey softening that came later with "Defending Your Life" and "Mother". Still fresh off her hilarious "Airplane" movies, Julie Hagerty plays Linda with that same wonderful sense of bewilderment that fits her character here, especially in the face of David's post-Vegas meltdown at Hoover Dam as she is pressured to be the voice of reason. The one problem I have with the movie - and it's a rather significant one - is that it stops rather abruptly with the couple hauling their Winnebago to New York where he is literally chasing the job he felt was beneath him before. It just feels like there is some personal revelation missing, and instead, Brooks went for an extended sight gag. That's too bad because Brooks the filmmaker manages the difficult feat of having us empathize with this couple misdirected by ideals they never really had and expectations of themselves that were unrealistic given their value system. By the way, this also happens to be Brooks' most cinematic movie with wonderfully composed shots, especially of the mobile home traveling through the breathtaking southwest. Smart, riotous fun. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 27, 2005 | | Summary | Hilarious! | Content
| I loved this movie about a California based adman who gets a transfer to New York and refuses to move. As a result he is fired. Weighing his options with his wife, the couple decides to sell everything and buy a large RV and travel the country for a few years.
At Brooks' insistance the couple decide to stop off in Las Vegas to get remarried. When Brooks goes to sleep, his wife sneaks off and loses everything they have in the casino. With no options the couple are forced to live in a trailer park and take very low paying jobs.
Through it all, Brooks starts to realize that moving to New York might not have been a bad decision after all
Gary Marshall makes an hilarious cameo as a casino manager that has to explain to Brooks how his wife lost all there money and then becomes annoyed when Brooks suggests that it would be an advertising boon if the casino gave all the money back.
I loved this movie! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 19, 2004 | | Summary | "I've recently dropped out of society, and..." | Content
| This is a wonderful piece of film making. The first half of the film is somewhat predictable, but there are so many hilarious scenes it doesn't really matter.
WARNING: SPOILERS
For me, the two highlights were the scene where Albert Brooks' character tries desperately to convince the casino manager (played brilliantly by Gary Marshall) to give back the money they've lost there. Marshall's facial expressions are priceless. Also, the scene in the employment office after the smart-alec job counselor learns that Brooks' character made $100K/year in his last job ("How much does the crossing guard job pay?"..."A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!!").
The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras, but the film is a wonderful way to spend 90 minutes. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 23, 2004 | | Summary | Hilarious | Content
| Pure comedy...that only Brooks can totally deliver!
The movie is a pure joy to watch, pure meaningless fun. |
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