Defining Favourites: Real Life (1979)
Albert Brooks's debut is a scathing satire about the true nature of "reality" entertainment, among many other things.
Directed by Albert Brooks
Screenplay by Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson, Harry Shearer
Produced by Penelope Spheeris
Starring Charles Grodin, Frances Lee McCain, J. A. Preston, Matthew Tobin, Albert Brooks
Premiere Date: March 2, 1979
Running Time: 99 minutes
It’s the dream of many aspiring artists to supposedly capture “real life” in their work. But sometimes, that ends up bringing people into a delusion of grandeur, and thus the “reality” that they end up capturing is nothing more than a mere vanity project. For Albert Brooks, who wrote, directed, and stars in Real Life as a fictional version of himself – seeking to go beyond what we know him best for, and then what comes forth is maybe one of the funniest American comedies ever made.
Brooks’s gambit with writing, directing, and starring as himself in Real Life is quite simple at that. It’s a film all about an artist who wants nothing more than to pursue the truth, and it’s also what makes every minute of this movie so funny but also outrageous. As he inserts himself into this story, Brooks takes it upon himself to make an incredibly self-deprecatory portrait of a troubled artist, who wishes to capture “the truth” in their art, because that’s also what makes it resonate with audiences. Even then, the narcissism of Brooks’s own self-insert only feels like a perfect picture of the artist who insinuates that they’re more important than they actually are, and will do anything they can to reassure the viewers that they’re watching something worthy of their time.
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