What would you do if you hear a movie’s name mentioned in the breath as Groundhog Day? I, like many people, love Groundhog day (it’s one of the few movies I’ve ever given a 10), so when Defending Your Life was mentioned in a podcast saying that its concept was worked out in perfection I just had to see it. Since I never heard of it before I was wondering if this would be that hidden treasure that I was now about to unearth and could share with the world.
So what is Defending Your Life about? The idea behind the movie is that once you die you end up in this world which looks like earth where a decision is made where you will be going for your next life. If you haven’t lived it well enough and overcame your fears you will be sent back to earth, if you have you will move on to a better planet where you will be able to use a bigger part of your brain. This decision is made based on watching a couple of key moments from your life, which you will witness and like some sort of trial will be attacked and defended by two parties.
Albert Brooks (who recently starred in Drive as Bernie Rose) is Daniel Miller an advertising executive who is quite succesful and has just bought a new car with a cd player (this movie is from 1991, so it was new technology back then) and during his drive CD’s fall on the floor of his car, he tries to pick them up and he dies because he crashes with a bus. He ends up in this strange world where all the dead people, while they are still kind of paralysed are wheeled out and put onto busses to travel to their hotels where they can rest and enjoy everything they want. There’s entertainment and the best food you will ever taste (watching this you almost start to believe that and wonder how some of this food would taste, especially knowing that you will not gain weight).
Rip Torn plays his “attorney” (although he explains he not really) and really feels like a sympathetic guy who tries to guide Daniel through this very confusing world. While he is there he meets the love interest Julia (Meryl Streep) who seems to have lived her life very differently from the way he has.
Defending Your Life has a very interesting concept and the world it is set in has convincingly been brought to life. It doesn’t reach the heights of Groundhog Day though as it feel a lot simpler, more straightforward and not as funny or as dark as Grounhog Day is. The trial itself is ok to watch, but never memorable and the romance between Julia and Daniel could have been expanded a bit. Despite these points it was a light and enjoyable movie to watch.
Score: 7
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1sLrvIncu4]