Defending Your Life

1991
PG
1h 52m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

22K

YOUR RATING

Meryl Streep and Albert Brooks in Defending Your Life (1991)

Play trailer1:48

1 Video

35 Photos

Satire Comedy Drama Fantasy

In an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.In an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.In an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

22K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 5 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 1:48

Defending Your Life

Photos35

+ 27

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Targets

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In a scene set in a comedy club, a terrible comedian performs a stand-up comedy act. This comedian asks Daniel (writer/director lead Albert Brooks ) how Daniel died. Daniel says "on stage, like you." Daniel later jokes that he can't leave before the end of the act because the guy on stage is his father. "No, I'm kidding. That would be so sad for me." This entire interaction is a dark and elaborate in-joke. Albert Brooks' father, Harry Einstein, actually was a comedian who died on stage at the Friar's Club, just after he finished his roast style comedy routine.

Goofs
When Daniel and Julia are walking up to hotel for the first time, the front of the hotel very clearly has a canvas overlay saying "Majestic Hotel", covering the real name of the hotel being used.

Quotes
Comedian: Well, there's a nice-looking young man over there. Hi, how'd ya die?
Daniel Miller: On stage, like you.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Class Action/If Looks Could Kill/Guilty by Suspicion/True Colors (1991)

Soundtracks
Something's Coming
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Barbra Streisand
Courtesy of CBS Records Music Licensing Department

User reviews136

Review

Featured review

7/10

Sweet and highly entertaining.

A wonderful comedy-fantasy that has all the wit of a good Woody Allen movie combined with genuine sweetness and good-naturedness. It's one of those rare films that achieve profundity without pushing for it; here it is done with the help of the clever structure. Albert Brooks delivers some great one-liners and wins the audience's affection easily, while Meryl Streep is atypically unaffected and Lee Grant is excellent in her supporting role. And who could ask for a better ending? (***)