Lost in America

Really funny and I think the predictability actually enhances the comedy. The characters are so completely oblivious and obviously doomed to fail that it overcomes the awkwardness. It does get a bit tiring towards the end, but it's an acceptable amount.

Begins with a flurry of comedic wit that hits right on the nose. The first half of this movie is among the funniest things Brooks has done. The second half, unfortunately, loses steam and reaches a level of tepidness that more resembles some of Brooks's more recent endeavors.

I love the way Brooks uses Easy Rider to scrutinize an entire generation of silly people who wish to "drop out." Once again, it's Albert Brooks' performance that really makes the thing great and Julie Hagerty is a good partner. I guess it tapers off a bit at the end, but I know for sure that it's not quite as good as Brooks' previous two films. "Dennis Hopper wouldn't arrest Peter Fonda, would he?"

There is something a little too easy about Lost In America, which makes the high praise completely unearned. Brooks deserves credit for at least attempting to make a serious comedy about the failure of the American dream and the emptiness of bourgeois aspirationalism, but the rash decisions made by the characters don't always ring true, and what begins as a renunciation of a certain way of life becomes unknowingly affirmative. There are some funny scenes, but the actual critique is toothless.

The first two-thirds of this sharp commentary on the Reagan recession are very funny--especially the scene between Brooks and Garry Marshall and Brooks ' explosion of rage at Hoover Dam--but the film gets wistful and grim when the "outlaw" yuppie begin to taste the bleakness of their new minimum wage existence. The location photography--particular of the geriatric trailer court and the depressed New Mexico town they try to settle in--is atmospheric.

The moral of this story? Not having money sucks. Try to avoid this problem.

Less fun and more annoying than usual from Brooks

It's really, really funny in the first half or so, and then it tails off. In fact, I've only seen this movie all the way through once or twice, but I've started it probably six or seven times. The first half makes it worthwhile, though. ("What do you think?" "I think if Liberace had kids, this would be their room.")

It's got some really hilarious stuff in it, but it gradually loses steam after they leave Las Vegas, with the laughs fewer and farther between. Perhaps I've become too familiar with it.

I always hear how funny this movie is, but it really isn't anything special. It's an okay film but I laughed maybe twice.

I like to believe THIS is Hank Scorpio's backstory.

A nice idea that never really goes anywhere, Lost in America needed to be either a solid plot/character-driven story or just an anarchic hell-for-leather romp to make the most of the premise. In the end it's just a handful of ideas that aren't even bled for all the potential comedy they contain. Has its moments but you won't gain much from watching this one.

Rewatch. I like it and I wish they expanded on the idea. By the time we hit the road, we got an abrupt ending. I wish they made it more of an indictment of Reaganism as advertised by Criterion. Long one-on-one cringey dialogue scenes. Neither of the characters were likeable---he's a manic asshole and she was so tightly-wound but acted like an airhead. Fav scene: showing up at the junior bridal suite and trying to argue with a bellhop who couldn't care less.

I generally like Brooks style of comedy, but this was simply too aimless to work. The movie starts off great setting up the premise but once they leave Vegas things go downhill. You stick with the film because of the good first half, but the film is never quite able recaptures its momentum. The problem is Brooks doesn't really know what he wants to do plot wise and the characters/laughs start to fall flat. The whole thing (while still mildly entertaining) winds up feeling pointless.

pretty good. but to me, it just wasn't very funny, which is a problem for a comedy

The first act is a great setup, but once it turns into a comedy of errors the laughs are few and far between. Too much of the later half of the film is spent watching the characters wander around confused or angry rather than advancing the plot or playing situations for laughs.

Pretty funny, but the ideas seem a little undercooked (I constantly got the feeling that Brooks was standing by the screen screaming "You see? Do you get what I'm saying?" and all I could do was shrug, grimace, and say "...kinda?"), exemplified by the abrupt ending, complete with perfunctory epilogue cards. I like Brooks, though (he really does seem to know what to do with his camera, unlike the vast majority of comedy directors), and I love Julie Hagerty.

The fact that my parents are almost exactly like the main characters adds a lot of depth to this movie for me, and keeps the whole thing feeling real and entertaining - even if the laughs fall off a bit in the third act. Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty have great chemistry.

While I am usually one to complain about movies that drag on too long I can't help but feel this movie just rushed itself too much. It built itself up to be a comedy road trip movie and the climax (plus turning point) happens within one state of the road trip. Everything after just doesn't feel as genuine as what came previous. Funny yes, but nothing I would recommend to many people.

They didn't travel far in America before getting lost. In fact, as soon as they hit the road, the movie becomes a little aimless and the intellectual humor drops the social commentary and becomes a little more mean-spirited, resulting in an unsatisfactory ending. I did enjoy some parts, but a lot felt like time had passed it by.

watched: 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021

Funny film satirizing both the American dream, and dreams of escaping it.

"Porno movies? We want to touch Indians."

In his prime ... in his first few films ... Brooks writes jokes that are so sublimely well-tuned that it often takes a few seconds to register just how funny they are. He also steadfastly refuses to take the most obvious path. A film about people who have everything forced to live with nothing is always about these people learning what really matters. This is not that film.

the car kept driving

In the 1980s precious few American filmmakers were making comedies this intelligent aside from Albert Brooks and, say, Woody Allen. Allen at least incorporated a little bit of slapstick, while Brooks must have gone straight over many people's heads. Lost in America actually presents a sober, gloomy (not angry or militant) view of class disparity, but tempers its social realism with optimism, humanity and heart -- and most importantly, it is hugely funny.

I, for one, do understand the "nest egg" concept.

It's monstrous.

What happened in Vegas did not seem at all plausible.

This movie turned for the worse when the wife gambled their life savings away, and it was really just another moment played for laughs. I just didn't like the tone or style of this one.