Albert Brooks in another comedy!

I just saw the In-Laws preview for the nth time. It just now hit me that I haven't seen Albert Brooks in anything that's up to par in a number of years... Anyone going to see this?

Michael Douglas's part is reminiscent of his Romancing the Stone role, but hella lot more fantastic. Plus, this seems like a role reversal for Albert if you take into consideration Real Life... sort of; his character's family/life is being ruined by an outsider. Nonetheless, Albert plays a "mild-mannered podiatrist" with a fanny pack et al. lol I know I'll be checking this out for sure tho.

"Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity
and desperation made us more attractive? If
needy were a turn-on?"
- Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), Broadcast News (1987)

I am a humongous Albert Brooks fan. HUMONGOUS.

He was a genius of a distinctive stand-up in the late '60s and into the '70s. That led to his quirky short films the first season of "Saturday Night Live". Soon afterward he was starring in his directorial debut from his own script, Real Life (1979). His subsequent own films, Modern Romance, Lost in America, Defending Your Life, Mother and The Muse, of course showcase his personal rhythms, sharp wit and self-depricating, low-key sense of humor.

For the most part, the roles he has taken in other people's projects have done the same, from Tom the chatty campaign worker in Scorsese's Taxi Driver, to the ill-fated horny husband of Goldie Hawn in the opening of Private Benjamin, to the curious late-night driver who happens to pick up a monster in the form of Dan Aykroyd in The Twilight Zone: The Movie, to his Oscar-nominated turn as the flop-sweating news reporter making up one third of the love triangle in James L. Brooks' (no relation) Broadcast News, to the senile administrator in Sidney Lumet's Critical Care, to the weasle of a rich inmate in Soderbergh's Out of Sight, to the meek clothing store manager caught in an inappropriate relationship in My First Mister, Brooks always brings me loads of joy.

Of his own films, there's no denying his earlier work is by far his best. I happen to prefer Modern Romance (1981) above them all, but Defending Your Life (1991) and Lost in America (1985) are also just as wonderful: hysterical, insightful, silly and smart. His first movie, Real Life, is good, but for me plays like a too-thin elongated version of one of his "SNL" shorts. There's some very good stuff there (and the spoof of the groundbreaking PBS series "An American Family" that was too arcane a reference in the '90s, is now relevant again in this age of 'reality programming'), and the ending is damn near perfect, but it would have been better as a thirty or forty-minute piece rather than a one-hundred-minute feature. His two most recent efforts, Mother (1996) and The Muse (1999), have moments that are the equal in hilarity to anything he's ever done ("It tastes exactly like an orange foot."), but they lack the kind of cohesion his three best flicks have in spades. Still, the "least" of the Albert Brooks' films tickle me more than most of what the mainstream is guffawing at these days.




So yes, I'm looking forward to seeing Albert in this new loose re-make of The In-Laws. But frankly, I look forward to seeing him in anything and everything he does.

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Kong wishes he wouldn't shout so much.

"The Desert Inn has heart, The Desert Inn has heart, The Desert Inn has heart...".

Wow, that has got to be the longest statement I've ever seen made by any Albert Brooks fan.

I've asked friends and colleagues what they've thought about Albert Brooks in general and many people have responded with "...eh" or a look of utter confusion. I'm wondering if he's an acquired tastes of sorts because even a handful of snobbish film connoisseurs have told me that he's funny (in a bland way), but not LYAO funny like (anyone but Albert Brooks).

Personally, I think it's good to see light, inane/intelligent humor these days as opposed to heavyhanded/contrived gags that require a generic sense of humor and bad, little, or no taste to enjoy.

Saw the new The In-Laws tonight.

I wasn't really expecting much, and that's about what I got. It's OK, but has no perfect sequences like the original movie. This re-make is too straightforward. Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas have some good moments here and there, but the script is lifeless and ordinary, giving them precious little to do. I'd grade it a C. It's watchable, but nothing special, better left waiting for video.

Oh, well. Can't say I'm all that surprised. I was hoping for more, but not really expecting it.

So I saw "The Matrix" last night, it was awesome. Now I'm thinking about my next movie to see...."A Mighty Wind" looks funny but so does the "The In-Laws". I love Albert Brooks. Why hasn't he been in more films lately? What are you guys going out to see in May?

Sorry to hear that Holds. I know you were looking forward to it. Too bad.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Albert Brooks hasn't done that many films - less than 20 all up. I really enjoyed him in Out Of Sight as the dodgy Richard Ripley - he's terrific in that movie so if anybody can save a Michael Douglas movie its Albert.

Go see A Mighty Wind!!! A riot from start to finish. The In Laws looks so contrived, I'll pass just on the previews I've seen. If you're a fan of Christopher Guest's films, then A Mighty Wind is right up your alley. Albert Brooks needs a new agent.