Lost in America

This might sound hard to believe, but the notion that Americans all live in hermetic, deluded bubbles defined by their own narrow experiences existed long before anyone ever heard of social media. In the final act of the 1985 comedy Lost in America, a beleaguered yuppie named David Howard (Albert Brooks) finally gives up on his dream of quitting his job and traveling the country free of responsibilities, and walks over to the local employment office of Safford, Arizona, the sparsely populated town he’s found himself in. He defends his decision to walk away from his previous job (advertising executive) and salary (about $100,000 a year), telling the incredulous clerk, “I’ve come here to live. I’ve come to change my life.” The clerk stifles a laugh. “You couldn’t change it on $100,000?” he asks.Lost in America is Brooks’s masterpiece of Reagan-era mockery, one that’s more caustic than his later comedies (Defending Your Life, Mother, The Muse) and more empathetic than his earlier ones (Real Life, Modern Romance). The plot is simple: David, passed up for a promotion, quits his job and encourages his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) to do the same. They then buy a Winnebago, divest themselves of their property, and endeavor to see the country in a fresh way, to “touch Indians,” as David repeatedly puts it, one of his many tin-eared summations of his new life.This still feels like a typical fantasy of the moneyed class: to dash one’s boring, predictable existence earning a solid wage and go find oneself, to get in touch with all of America rather than whatever city you’ve chosen as your gilded cage. Lost in America undercuts that foolishness not with the kind of broad comedy you’d expect: There’s no scene where David and Linda encounter some aggressive, slack-jawed yokels, no patronizing humor aimed at the “real America” they’re seeking to travel through. The rest of the country is just like them, deeply mediocre. What sets David and Linda apart is their naive belief that they can change that, something Brooks sees as entirely futile.Brooks has long been America’s most pessimistic comedian, the one who’s least interested in having his audiences learn an easy lesson. His most upbeat conclusion to a film probably comes in 1991’s Defending Your Life, in which the central couple that finally gets together is already dead (that film is set in the afterlife). This bleak approach is perhaps why Brooks never quite rose above cult status through his most fertile creative period (the ’80s and early ’90s). There are elements of his nervy, neurotic characters in the oeuvres of so many comic giants working in cinema and television today—Judd Apatow, Dan Harmon, Lena Dunham, and Louis C.K. come to mind. But watch a Brooks movie today and you’ll marvel at his lack of gimmickry, his joy at wringing laughs from straightforward, repetitive dialogue, and his refusal to give his narratives a happy ending.Brooks understands that the Reaganite mores he’s poking at speaks to a larger, nationwide existential crisis. Like so many others in his generation, David has achieved apparent success yet derives no pleasure from it. He’s thus maniacal about everything he sets himself to, be it the promotion he ends up not getting (which sparks a hilarious, minutes-long tantrum, perfectly played by Brooks) or the particular ways in which he plans on relaxing once he’s quit his job. “I’m insane and responsible. This is a potent combination,” he warns Linda, who is trapped in her own oppressive stasis.Linda’s boredom spins into chaos during a pit stop at Las Vegas, where she gambles away the couple’s entire $180,000 nest egg at the roulette table in a night. If Lost in America has a high-concept set piece, it’s this: David waking up, going downstairs to the casino in horror, and being taken aside by the manager (a superb Garry Marshall) and told he’s now flat broke. This comes 40 minutes into the movie and 10 minutes into the couple’s planned cross-country trip, completely blowing up the film’s conventional-seeming narrative and never rebuilding it. When confronted, Linda can’t explain her actions, only saying that she, too, had something eating away at her inside.Lost in America resists being a cloying fantasy of two rich Americans getting in touch with a different way of life and changing their outlook. Everything after this early disaster is a scramble: David and Linda constantly fight (with David’s “nest egg” rant a thrilling high point), they break up only to quickly reunite after Linda hitches a ride with an ex-convict, and they end up in a trailer park in Arizona, where Linda takes a job at the local Der Wienerschnitzel while David is tormented by teens as a minimum-wage crossing guard. The film is funny, of course, but not loudly so—there are no silly chase sequences, no explicit sexual escapades, nothing that feels geared toward standing out in a trailer or on a poster.No, the ultimate joke is on viewers who might scoff at David’s foolishness while nursing similar anxieties about the possibility of finding fulfillment. Indeed, Brooks sneaks in a little poke at the crowd by opening the film with an overheard radio interview of the legendary critic Rex Reed, who complains about the laugh-out-loud mob mentality of a comedy-movie audience. Chuckle all you want, Brooks is saying—but that doesn’t mean you’re too different from his protagonist. After just weeks on the road, David and Linda resolve to fix their new crisis (a lack of money) by begging for their old jobs back, and it works, though their salaries are slightly reduced. That’s what amounts to a (relatively) happy ending for Brooks: a depressing return to the status quo.image/Sound:Per the liner notes in the Blu-ray’s packaging, “this new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution from a new 35mm interpositive made from the original camera negative.” The resulting image is softer and grittier than one might conventionally expect from a Criterion Collection restoration of a modernish film, though this is in keeping with Lost in America’s stripped-down, somewhat docudramatic aesthetic. The image is cleaner and more robust than ever before, and flesh tones have been dramatically improved. A newfound clarity in the picture also emphasizes the conceptual rigorousness of the compositions, particularly their strong through lines and comic sense of symmetry. Colors also have a lush vibrancy, most clearly the primary hues of the casino that alters the fates of the heroes. The monaural mix is clear and mixed with a subtlety that honors the crisp precision of the actors’ line deliveries, as well as the immersive sounds of the settings.Extras:The four interviews included here, all recorded for this edition in 2017, cover various strands of Albert Brooks’s working methods. Talking with filmmaker Robert Weide, Brooks discusses how he works out a script by performing all the parts into a recorder, a method at which co-writer Monica Johnson was unusually adept. Brooks also remembers his many appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, and how his mother would always ask what Johnny thought of his performance. In this interview, there’s also telling footage of a career-making Brooks sketch concerning “the worst ventriloquist in the world,” who sings while trying to get his dummy to drink water—an absurdist punchline that anticipates many of the classic routines in Brooks’s cinema. Julie Hagerty provides a co-star’s perspective on working with Brooks, recalling how he liked to film scenes up to a certain point and then start from the beginning of the sequence without any warning. Producer Herb Nanas has also worked with his share of legends, helping to jump-start Sylvester Stallone’s career not long after meeting Brooks through George Shapiro. Nanas provides a glimpse into the comic world to which Brooks belongs, and the interview with filmmaker James L. Brooks, a legend in his own right, provides further social context as well as a piercing analysis of his friend as both an actor and director. These interviews are too short for this Brooks fan’s tastes, though an essay by film critic Scott Tobias offers a perceptive and complementing consideration of Lost in America‘s place in Brooks’s career, and the theatrical trailer rounds out the package.

Albert Brooks makes this comedy gold. Julie Hagerty (who got her straight person delivery chops on Airplane!) is just great. I saw it in the theater, and I watch it again from time to time, it's that good.

Lost In America, a 1985 movie directed by Albert Brooks, is a very good American movie and one of the best films that the 1980's had to offer. The film was co-written by Brooks with Monica Johnson and stars Brooks alongside his then girlfriend Julie Hagerty as his wife Linda and has a special appearance by Garry Marshall as the CEO of the casino in Las Vegas, which became their first stop.It all starts with David and Linda Howard making plans preceding a hoped for promotion at the advertising agency that David works for. But after insulting his boss, when he doesn't get the promotion but a transfer to New York City instead, David is fired from his job and convinces his wife to quit her job at a woman's clothing store and they sell everything, buy a Winnebago and decide to hit the road to discover America and what America is really all about. They have a giant nest egg of $144,000 tucked away nicely and in easy reach in the motor home.Things go awry after their stop in Vegas to renew their wedding vows. Linda gambles almost all of their money away(a reversal of fortune here. Usually it's the husband who gambles the money away in these situations, not the wife. The wife is usually the smarter one of the two)and after a pretty amusing scene where the husband fails to talk the CEO of the casino,(cameo by Garry Marshall), into refunding all of their money that was lost in the casino, which is when the comedy really begins and is one of the films funniest moments, they take off and seperate after a real wing dinger at the Hoover Dam, which is another one of the films funniest moments, and than get back together and wind up in Arizona where they both get jobs. Linda at a fast food restaurant and David as a crossing guard, where he is taunted by kids left and right, which is another of the films funniest moments, and gives David a sheer lesson in anger management. Another funny moment was when the motorcycle cop pulls David and Linda over for doing over 80 miles in a 55 Mile Per Hour Zone where Linda talks the motorcycle cop out of giving them a speeding ticket by saying that her husband has based his whole life on the movie Easy Rider and David telling him that he looks like The Terminator. For those of you who haven't seen this very good comedy drama film as of yet, I won't spoil it for any of you. I will say that this movie has more references to the cult classic Easy Rider than any other movie in memory.Lost In America is for those who have always wondered what it would be really like to drop out of society and see how those on the outside of society live. It is also for those who ever thought that they had good luck that actually turned out all bad in the end and even when you feel that you lost everything, you never really do if you have love right in front of you and that love is better than nothing and more valuable than all the money in the world.Brooks really works wonders both behind and in front of the camera. He and Hagerty make a great team as the husband and wife who yearn for freedom and later finding out that true love and intimacy, with that special person in your life, is better than anything else the world has to offer. The chemistry between Brooks and Hagerty is really overwhelming and is the main highlight of the film and it does indeed work out great. Albert Brooks really is a very talented film maker, actor and a very talented comedian. Lost In America proves this in more ways than one.Not only that, this film was a commercial success, though it wasn't a blockbuster. The film was also well received by critics.I first saw this movie back in 1986 on HBO when I was 16. I watched this movie at my sister's house and, though I was 16 years old at the time, I thought that it was a wonderful movie and I really enjoyed it. After buying the DVD in 2008 from Amazon, I watched it again and I still enjoyed the film as much as I did when I first saw it. Lost In America is a very good American film and it is not only one of the best films of the 1980's, it also shows that there are still film makers in the United States of America that still know how to make a very good film. Albert Brooks may never take on the world by storm, but I will take Albert Brooks over Woody Allen anyday. Yes I would.The digitally mastered DVD has the movie looking beautiful with all the colors blending in very well. With the exception of the theatrical trailer and talent bios, there really isn't much in the special features department.I highly recommend Lost In America to everyone looking for not only a very good American comedy drama, but a very good American movie. This is a must see for everyone. It is a very good and entertaining movie. It might even make you want to give Albert Brooks' other movies a try after seeing this one.

This is one of the funniest and well written scripts I’ve ever watched, Love Albert Brooks and every character in this film, even the supporting actors and small parts were perfect. 5 stars, perfect movie!!

This is Albert Brooks's answer to how Easy Rider should have gone, if it was realistic. It's a very funny movie about a couple who leave everything behind to go on an adventure in a winnebago. What follows is a very funny movie, but special mention has to be made to the scene with Garry Marshall, as the manager of the Desert Inn casino. His scene with Albert Brooks in the office is one of the funniest scenes ever put on film. Watch this, you won't be disappointed.

A film I've watched many times in my 40 years on earth. I'm not going to add much to the reviews already here, just wanted to recommend the best Albert Brooks film I've seen (still hope to watch Modern Romance someday). Maybe not a classic but obviously I like it and despite the many funny scenes (Las Vegas & Brooks trying to find a highly paid job in a small town), it also works as a road movie. Oh, and Julie Haggerty is priceless!

I was expecting a bilingual dvd including a French version as stated on Amazon. Because I already own a copy with French subtitles, the copy I received was exactly as the one I had so I returned it and got a refund. The problem is still there with the mention english and French. Too bad. The movie is excellent.

I had watched this movie several times years ago with my husband and we have always enjoyed the comedy of the situation. Albert Brooks and Julie Haggerty play their parts well, as a young(ish) couple who leave the rat race to "drop out of society" and see the country. Unfortunately, their first stop is Las Vegas...need I say more? As I said, it does get a little silly at the end, as the movie-maker doesn't quite seem to know how to wrap it up. Other than that it is good for several laughs. I received this product in excellent condition and within the time frame promised.

competitive pricing, fast delivery, very funny movie