What happens to us after we die? The cliché is St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, but Albert Brooks (who wrote, directed, and starred in this film) is much more imaginative than that. Brooks plays Daniel Miller, an advertising executive who, five minutes into the movie, gets hit by a bus and dies. He wakes up in a place called Judgment City, where the recently deceased all wear white togas and stay in hotels while they are “judged”. If they pass, they go on to join the rest of the universe. If not, they are reincarnated back on Earth and repeat the cycle.
In a non-religious reimagining of purgatory, Judgment City seems like Earth itself, with a few very interesting variants. The “residents” who live there are all extremely smart, having learned how to use more than 3-5% of their brains (unlike the people who have just come from earth) – they all wear normal clothes and have regular professions like lawyers, sushi chefs, and museum docents. Otherwise, one of the few differences from Earth is that all the food in Judgment City is extremely delicious and all have zero calories (there are also great little details, like not just how much of the food they eat, but how quickly it is prepared). This leads to some of the best scenes in the film, especially at the Japanese and Italian restaurants.
Generally, there’s a slightly ethereal quality to the movie, with a classical music score, but it’s also not quite like any iteration of heaven or the afterlife that you’ve dreamed up before. Brooks takes the time to explore the world of Judgment City, showing us how interesting and mysterious it is, without explaining all the rules – so much of it is assumed and even purposely unexplained (which is why Miller himself is confused a lot), but the sense of discovery feels realistic and exciting.
The other interesting twist is that the “judgements” being made here are not based on right/wrong, or morality, or sin, or how you treated others. Miller is confused about that too. He keeps trying to figure out the exact charge they are bringing against him. Is it about not making enough money? Making bad choices? Miller has a defense attorney, and there is a prosecutor on the other side, as well as a judge – it is in some ways a full-blown courtroom movie – but what he is accused of is basically not making the most of the opportunities he was given in his time on Earth.
Too often we confuse character for morals or right and wrong. Defending Your Life does not make that mistake. The central theme is fear, and we get to see, as “evidence”, all the moments in his life that Miller has been afraid and made decisions based on that fear. This also functions as a mechanism to show really funny montages (which lets Brooks flaunt his physical comedy) but also to skip back and forth in time as we learn more about who Miller is as a person, in a progressive but nonlinear manner.
The other major storyline is that Daniel meets a woman, Julia (Meryl Streep), who is also being judged. However, she’s staying at a much nicer hotel, and seems to have a much easier and better time of it. She is upbeat and positive and everyone around her likes her, while Miller is morose and is generally regarded by others with a mixture of pity and sympathy. In one of the funniest bits, one of the waiters tries to give him nine pies on the house. Although it wouldn’t have been apparent on paper, Streep and Brooks have an odd but palpable chemistry, and watching them walk, go on dates, and eat food is endlessly charming. Defending Your Life is not a rom com by any means, but it is fully a romance and fully a comedy.
Defending Your Life is peak Albert Brooks – it is inventive, funny, and deeply allegoric and meaningful. It is a movie that is literally about relitigating your life choices. It also inspires you to overcome your fears. “Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything: real feelings, true happiness, real joy – they can’t get through it. But you lift it, buddy, and you’re in for the ride of your life.”
