Defending Your Life (1991)

In an afterlife resembling the present-day US, people must prove their worth by showing in court how they have demonstrated courage. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Albert Brooks
Written By: Albert Brooks
Starring: Rip Torn, Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Lee Grant, Buck Henry, Albert Brooks, Susan Walters, Mary Pat Gleason, James Eckhouse, Michael Durrell, Julie Cobb, Gary Beach
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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Defending Your Life belongs to 15 collections
1. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
2. Jonathan Rosenbaum's Top 1000 Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 38 stars)
3. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
5. Director/star combination (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
6. 100 Noteworthy Films of the Romantic Comedy Genre and Beyond (collaborative - 5 stars)
7. Triple Threat (collaborative: moderated by Dorkovsky - 4 stars)
8. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
9. DtC Doubling the Canon 2022 Nominees (collaborative: moderated by lineuphere - 2 stars)
10. Heaven (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 1 star)
11. Ari Aster's list (public: ramynoodle - 1 star)
12. 3: High Priority (public: KasperL)
13. 1991: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
14. 90s fantasy (public: kikifas)
15. seen in 2020 (public: sproost)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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BeeDub | 85 63rd |
It has a very interesting premise, the cast is great, and there's a lot of decent humor, but the romance makes zero sense. Still enjoyable, though.
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Pickpocket | 7 68th |
This movie is all over the place. Sometimes it's really deep and funny and interesting and other times the jokes and ideas completely miss the mark. The ending isn't great and the romance was unbelievable. Rip Torn is excellent and I love all the flashback stuff. Could've been something really special but it's just a good, forgettable movie.
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MartinTeller | 75 54th |
It's got some funny stuff, but I'm not so into it now. The romance is really hard to swallow. Actually, it's a bit narcissistic of Brooks, even if in a self-deprecating way. He's a shallow, nervous loser at life and she's confident, giving, nearly a saint... but she falls head over heels for him immediately because he tells a couple of good jokes?
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IcyBrian | 80 66th |
Interesting take on the afterlife. Very funny, as you'd expect from Brooks. But I will echo what others have said about the romance not being entirely believable.
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2 | eggbeater | 67 61st |
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Imperfect, like all of Brooks's movies, but full of funny ideas and hard to dislike.
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mattorama12 | 79 87th |
The premise is one of my favorites in any movie I've ever seen, particularly impressive given that it is a romantic comedy. It has some great jokes, as well. What prevents this from reaching its full potential is that the romance isn't nearly as well done as one would like.
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Moribunny | 53 41st |
In the afterlife, Albert Brooks (long may he live) will probably be forced to answer for this foray into the cheesy afterlife-judgment comedy trope. In his version, the trial revolves around an association of intelligence with fearlessness which couldn't be more wrong, but was obviously construed to prop up the romantic finale. Not much of it works as intended, and it pales in comparison to his brilliant 80s stuff, but for a misstep, it's still an enjoyable movie.
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iqcumber | 70 52nd |
Gentle is the word. If you like that sort of thing. I do here.
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lachapelle | 82 67th |
I am not a big Meryl Streep fan, never have been, but I've always liked Albert Brooks. Together here, in a story about second chances, they work well together. This is an underrated gem.
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sebby | 75 83rd |
Brooks is at his best here: charming, witty without falling too much into self-deprecation, acutely observant of the universe, and armed with an awesome concept.
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tonydal | 70 40th |
The nicely spoofy tone at the outset left me looking forward to more of the same. Unfortunately though, we end up getting caught up in a goofy love story that seemed pretty much grafted on to the rest of the proceedings. Meryl takes her assignment in graceful stride, but Brooks appears to be trying awful hard to play up his big chance to make Christmas Movie history or something. At any rate, Streep is wonderfully attractive...and you can watch this one over and over without gaining an ounce. :)
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tinysausage | 58 12th |
Some typical Brooks self-deprecating laughs to be had, but this felt pretty clunky to me. The satire felt too watered down and the romance was unconvincin, even Rip Torn is not allowed to let rip.
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hellboy76 | 69 73rd |
Interesting concept and for the most part this movie pulls it off. Rip Torn is great.
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1 | HeyNiceFilm | 50 13th |
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Despite the plot not exactly being cliche, the film still felt cookie cutter. Sterile. About as plain as white bread. Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep and I'm sure there is a 'greater life lesson' about it all but I just couldn't get too much into this one. Shout out Rip Torn tho.
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Average Percentile 58.42% from 549 Ratings | ![]() |