{"id":34433,"date":"2015-05-26T08:57:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T15:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34433"},"modified":"2021-02-05T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:30:01","slug":"real-life-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34433","title":{"rendered":"Real Life (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We want the greatest show of all: life!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Poster-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-34435\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Poster-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Poster.jpg 489w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA pushy film director (Albert Brooks) recruits an &#8220;ordinary&#8221; American family &#8212; Charles Grodin, Frances Lee McCain, Lisa Urette, and Robert Stirrat &#8212; to open up their house to a documentary crew and two psychologists (Matthew Tobin and J.A. Preston).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Albert Brooks Films<\/li>\n<li>Directors<\/li>\n<li>Mockumentaries<\/li>\n<li>Family Problems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that this &#8220;reasonably funny satire&#8221; &#8212; which &#8220;pokes fun at <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/An_American_Family\">PBS&#8217;s <em>American Family<\/em> series<\/a> that presented the lives of the Louds in <em>cinema verite<\/em> style &#8212; shows that &#8220;the presence of a camera alters reality&#8221; and &#8220;asserts that documentarians have a lot of gall to take their cameras into people&#8217;s homes to exploit them&#8221;. Given that reality television is now beyond <em>de rigeur<\/em> (and few younger viewers will have seen the original series), director-star Albert Brooks&#8217; satirical insights no longer pack the same punch; 21st century audiences understand how &#8220;reality&#8221; is inevitably obscured by being filmed, and (thanks to ample mass media coverage) have a more nuanced view of what it means for participants to be &#8220;exploited&#8221; while simultaneously exploiting the genre for their own fame and gain. With that said, as Peary notes, the movie &#8220;has peculiar insight into family life, some believable characterizations, and several truly hilarious scenes&#8221;, including Brooks singing &#8220;to Phoenix residents about how he &#8216;sincerely&#8217; appreciates them; the visit to McCain&#8217;s crooked gynecologist; and Grodin&#8217;s showing incompetence while operating on a horse&#8221;. (I also enjoy the slow-mo montage sequence.)<\/p>\n<p>However, things get off to a creaky start as soon as filming begins in the Yeagers&#8217; house, as we&#8217;re shown how the Yeagers&#8217; &#8220;normal&#8221; appearance during the audition process masked (who knew?!) a darker suburban reality of bitchy wives, petulant children, and put-upon, milquetoast husbands. McCain&#8217;s immediate crush on Brooks &#8212; while strategically fueling the ego of his &#8220;opportunist&#8221; character &#8220;whose integrity and sensitivity come and go&#8221; &#8212; feels patently false, and the two kids are instantly forgettable. Although Peary argues that the secondary plotline involving &#8220;Brooks&#8217;s meetings with psychologists and studio executives&#8221; causes the film to lose momentum, I disagree; I actually find Brooks&#8217; character (as obnoxious as he is) the most perversely interesting and authentic in the film, and his dealings with a faceless producer ring all-too-true. The film&#8217;s denouement is reasonably inspired, and zany enough to leave us feeling that this film is really about outsized Hollywood egos run amok.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some amusing moments<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Montage.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Montage.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"486\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Montage.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Montage-128x86.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Montage-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Brooks&#8217; no-holds-barred performance as (a variation on) himself<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Brooks.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Brooks.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"486\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Brooks.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Brooks-128x86.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Real-Life-Brooks-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though you&#8217;ll certainly want to check it out if you&#8217;re an Albert Brooks fan. <\/p>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0079781\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1979\/03\/02\/archives\/screen-albert-brooks-turns-real-life-into-moviefamily-is-the-lens.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematicthreads.com\/review.php?id=970&#038;ltr=R\">Cinematic Threads Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/87771\/real-life#articles-reviews?articleId=220873\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We want the greatest show of all: life!&#8221; Synopsis: A pushy film director (Albert Brooks) recruits an &#8220;ordinary&#8221; American family &#8212; Charles Grodin, Frances Lee McCain, Lisa Urette, and Robert Stirrat &#8212; to open up their house to a documentary crew and two psychologists (Matthew Tobin and J.A. Preston). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Albert Brooks Films Directors Mockumentaries Family Problems Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary writes that this &#8220;reasonably funny satire&#8221; &#8212; which &#8220;pokes fun at PBS&#8217;s American Family&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34433\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34433"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68911,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34433\/revisions\/68911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}