Real Life (1979)

88% of critics liked it
(16 reviews)
76% of users liked it
(1,059 ratings)

Albert Brooks made his feature-length debut as a writer and director with this wickedly funny satire, in which Albert Brooks plays "Albert Brooks," an arrogant and self-centered comedian who has decided to make a documentary film. Following the lead of the infamous pre-Real World PBS series An… More Albert Brooks made his feature-length debut as a writer and director with this wickedly funny satire, in which Albert Brooks plays "Albert Brooks," an arrogant and self-centered comedian who has decided to make a documentary film. Following the lead of the infamous pre-Real World PBS series An American Family (in which a "typical" family was filmed during most of their waking hours and eventually self-destructed on camera), Brooks moves in with the Yeager family of Phoenix, Arizona and chronicles their lives, with the support of a battery of psychiatrists and sociologists. He arrives at the Yeagers' doorstep with a two-man crew, wearing high-tech cameras that look like space helmets from a grade-B sci-fi movie, and it quickly becomes obvious that he is incapable of being unobtrusive. The Yeagers are driven to distraction by Brooks, who repeatedly ignores the advice of his team of experts and wishes there were some way to make the family's life more interesting (leading to perhaps the least expected homage to Gone With the Wind in film history). Of all Brooks' features, Real Life most resembles his cutting but deadpan short subjects for Saturday Night Live; Brooks never fails to cast himself in an unflattering light, and the supporting cast does admirable work in reacting to him, especially Charles Grodin and Lee McCain as Mr. and Mrs. Yeager. Harry Shearer contributed to the screenplay and plays a small role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Albert Brooks
Written By: Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson, Harry Shearer
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 2, 1979 Wide
On DVD: Feb 13, 2001
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Critic Reviews

Janet Maslin, New York Times
Mr. Brooks is at his most droll.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Albert Brooks's first and funniest feature.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
The first of Brooks' analytical comedies is his funniest and most rigorous
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Albert Brooks is so deft at showing how filmmaking distorts the very reality it aims to record honestly that it's hard to watch family documentaries anymore without thinking about Real Life.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Though amusing in spots, it goes too far with its one-note joke until it becomes abrasive.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Brooks messes with the genre from the start, spouting pseudoscience about how the filmmakers found their test subjects (led by a spot-on Charles Grodin).
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Mock-umentary predates reality shows, still funny.
Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette
Albert Brooks just before he became great.
Larry Carroll, Countingdown.com
A great, underrated, lost gem of a film that accurately predicted and lampooned reality television long before it ever came to be.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Real Life is funy in spots but is remarkable mostly for its Socratic open-endedness.
, Film4
Brooks's directorial debut is also one of his best movies, largely due to the funny man's trademark multitasking as writer, actor and helmer.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
There's a little bit of genuine prescience, inspiration, and intelligence coursing through its veins, but mostly that smattering of each just makes you crave more.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Stella D

20 years before reality tv, albert brooks destroyed the lives of a phoenix family in this hilarious mockumentary
Leo L

Absolutely great!
Christopher B

Albert Brooks can just look into the camera and I crack up. Here he is at his best, doing a reality show (far ahead of it's time) on Charles Grodin's family. Brook's ego demands that he take center stage (shades of Michael Moore?) and he winds up distorting the… More
Albert Brooks can just look into the camera and I crack up. Here he is at his best, doing a reality show (far ahead of it's time) on Charles Grodin's family. Brook's ego demands that he take center stage (shades of Michael Moore?) and he winds up distorting the reality of what he is filming. Very prophetic along with being very, very funny. "The house is really burning!"