Main Cast: Charles Grodin, Frances Lee McCain, J.A. Preston, Matthew Tobin, Albert Brooks
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Albert Brooks made his feature-length debut as a writer and director with this wickedly funny satire, in which Albert Brooks plays "Albert Brooks," an arrogant and self-centered comedian who has decided to make a documentary film. Following the lead of the infamous pre-Real World PBS series An American Family (in which a "typical" family was filmed during most of their waking hours and eventually self-destructed on camera), Brooks moves in with the Yeager family of Phoenix, Arizona and chronicles their lives, with the support of a battery of psychiatrists and sociologists. He arrives at the Yeagers' doorstep with a two-man crew, wearing high-tech cameras that look like space helmets from a grade-B sci-fi movie, and it quickly becomes obvious that he is incapable of being unobtrusive. The Yeagers are driven to distraction by Brooks, who repeatedly ignores the advice of his team of experts and wishes there were some way to make the family's life more interesting (leading to perhaps the least expected homage to Gone With the Wind in film history). Of all Brooks' features, Real Life most resembles his cutting but deadpan short subjects for Saturday Night Live; Brooks never fails to cast himself in an unflattering light, and the supporting cast does admirable work in reacting to him, especially Charles Grodin and Lee McCain as Mr. and Mrs. Yeager. Harry Shearer contributed to the screenplay and plays a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
In 1975, comedian Albert Brooks was offered a gig as permanent host of TV's new late night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. Instead, Brooks opted to write and direct short films for the fledgling show. Though his tenure lasted only one season, Brooks' films, including the classic and prescient Show Us Your Guns, were mini-masterpieces of the mockumentary. For his debut as a feature filmmaker a few years later, Brooks spun off one of his SNL shorts into this spoof of the PBS mini-series An American Family (1973). The film starred Brooks as an obnoxious, Hollywood version of himself, attempting to ape the success of An American Family with his own documentary about "real" family life. Real Life met with critical acclaim and established Brooks as a cult favorite among aficionados of intellectual comedy. Others experimented with mockumentaries at the same time (most notably Eric Idle of Monty Python with his Beatles parody The Rutles (1978)), but it could be argued that his SNL films made Brooks one of the first and best practitioners of the form. The films certainly fit seamlessly into Brooks' overall body of work: his earlier comedy albums and infamous TV talk show appearances displayed a similar proclivity for deconstructing accepted standards and blurring the lines between entertainment and reality. One of Brooks' best friends, Rob Reiner, later achieved great success with his own debut as a director, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), often cited as the greatest example of the mockumentary form -- and a film that bore more than a slight resemblance to both Real Life and The Rutles, a similarity perhaps due at least in part to actor and comic Harry Shearer, who co-wrote and co-stars in both Real Life and This Is Spinal Tap. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Dick Haynes - Harris; Lisa Urette - Lisa Yeager; Robert Stirrat - Eric Yeager; David Spielberg - Dr. Jeremy Nolan; Jennings Lang - Martin Brand; Norman Bartold - Dr. Isaac Steven; Susan Clark - Nurse; Adam Grant - The Feltons; Johnny Haymer - Dr. Rennert; Julie Payne - Dr. Kramer; James Ritz - Jack; James L. Brooks - Evaluator; Mort Lindsey - Himself; Harry Shearer - Pete; S.W. Smith; Zeke Manners - Driver
Credit
Linda Spheeris - Art Director, Linda Marder - Art Director, Albert Brooks - Director, David Finfer - Editor, Mort Lindsey - Composer (Music Score), Eric Saarinen - Cinematographer, Penelope Spheeris - Producer, Albert Brooks - Screenwriter, Monica Johnson - Screenwriter, Harry Shearer - Screenwriter
