The Compleat Al

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a musical artist that probably needs no introduction, as he is well-known for his longstanding career writing parodies of popular songs of the time, ranging from “Eat It” (parody of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson) to “White and Nerdy” (parody of “Ridin’” by Chamillionaire). While 2022 saw the release of the satirical biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on Roku, with it finally receiving a home video release the following year, Yankovic is no stranger to joke depictions of his life story, as 1985 saw the premiere of the mockumentary The Compleat Al on Showtime, albeit in a 60-minute edited form, before releasing in full on home video. Shout! Factory’s announcement of the home video release of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is what led me to discover the existence of The Compleat Al through their listing of a DVD release, which I would receive as a gift shortly afterwards. While I did overall enjoy my experience with it, the full 100-minute runtime sadly works against it at times.

The Black Cauldron

 

If there’s one film that could be considered the black sheep of the Disney Animated Canon, it would be The Black Cauldron, the studio’s 25th animated feature. Released in 1985, The Black Cauldron is recognized as the antepenultimate film in what’s colloquially considered Disney’s “Dark Age” and is notable as not only the first film from the studio to receive a PG rating and feature CG, but also the most expensive animated film ever made at the time. Unfortunately, it was also a box office bomb, earning a mere $21.3 million compared to its $44 million budget, and nearly bankrupted the studio, as well as sideline any further attempts at adapting the source material, Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, for decades. On top of that, it didn’t get a proper home video release until 1998 entirely as a result of its failure.

In the years since, however, The Black Cauldron has developed a cult following due to the very elements that led to its initial failure at the box office. Disney themselves have even acknowledged its existence with a 4K Disney+ release in 2019, a 2021 Blu-ray release (though exclusively through the Disney Movie Club) and representation in the Disney Villainous tabletop game, as well as a small selection of merch for the 35th anniversary. This cult status also led us to finally check it out, as we sometimes do with other lesser-known Disney films. In this case, while it’s certainly not the best film the studio has ever released, it’s easier now to at least appreciate what they were going for at the time.

Stubs – Re-Animator

Re-Animator (1985) Starring Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson, Jeffrey Combs. Director: Stuart Gordon Written by Stuart Gordon, William J. Norris, Dennis Paoli. Based on the short story "Herbert West--The Re-Animator" by H. P. Lovecraft in Home Brew (Feb--Jul 1922) Produced by Brian Yuzna. Color. Run Time: 86 minutes. USA. Horror, Science Fiction

In the world of horror, it is sometimes easy to go over-the-top, whether planned or unintentional. In the case of Re-Animator, it appears it was planned.

The film is not for everyone with its ample amounts of blood and nudity, sometimes even mixing the two.

If you ever felt there were too many vampire movies, you were not alone. The idea to make Re-Animator came from the director wanting to make a Frankenstein film rather than a Dracula one. Gordon's horror film credits included a TV movie version of the popular Bleacher Bums, a play he had directed.

Originally Re-Animator was going to written for the stage, then as a half-hour TV pilot before being considered for a TV series. But writing 13 episodes gave way to Gordon, along with William J. Norris and Dennis Paoli, adapting H.P. Lovecraft’s serialized novella “Herbert West--Re-Animator" for the big screen with Brian Yuzna producing.

The production, which had a budget of $2 million, began production in Los Angeles on November 28, 1984, for a six-week shoot. This would be the bloodiest film makeup artist John Naulin had ever worked on. Rather than 2 gallons of blood, which he normally used in horror films, they used 24 gallons on Re-Animator.

So gruesome was the film that the producers feared they would receive an “X” rating if it was rated by the MPAA. But a film with an “Unrated” status has certain restrictions going against it. Television spots were denied in Chicago and the Los Angeles Times refused ads, to name a few. The film would eventually receive an “R” rating in 1986 about nine months after it was released. That version would originally be released on home video by Vestron Video.

The film opens at the Universität Zürich Institut Für Medizin in Sweden, though it sounds like people are actually speaking German. Police have been called to the school and, with encouragement from colleagues, end up breaking down the door to Dr. Hans Gruber’s laboratory. There they find his student, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), standing over Gruber’s (Al Berry)_shaking body. The syringe in his hand is filled with a glowing green substance. While they watch, Gruber’s head explodes and Herbert is initially accused of killing him, but the student claims to have given him life.

Herbert West's (Jeffrey Combs) actions are misconstrued when he tries and
 fails to reanimate his mentor, Dr. Hans Gruber (Al Berry).

While you’re still thinking that over, the film moves to the Miskatonic Medical School in Arkham, Massachusetts, where medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) attempts to revive a patient with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). But try as he might he can’t bring her back and his colleagues insist the woman is dead and make him give up.

Dan takes the body to the hospital morgue and is introduced by Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson) to new transfer student, Herbert West. When Herbert meets Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), he accuses the professor of plagiarizing Dr. Gruber’s work and calls Dr. Hill’s theory about the brainstem remaining alive for six minutes after death “outdated.”

Everything seems to going well for med students Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott)
and his fiancee Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton).

Meanwhile, Dan posts a notice seeking a roommate and returns home and has sex with his fiancée, Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), the dean’s daughter. She worries about what will happen if her old-fashioned father finds out about her sex life with Dan and promises to marry him as soon as he graduates.

After she dresses and is on the way out, who should be at the door but Herbert with Dan’s ad for a roommate. After a quick tour of the house, which to Herbert’s liking includes a basement, Herbert offers Dan cash so that he can move in immediately. Megan finds Herbert rather creepy, but money talks and Dan lets Herbert move in.

The next day, in a rather small medical school class, the students watch Dr. Hill rather matter-of-factly remove a brain from a corpse. Everything he says is met with Herbert breaking his pencil, which irritates Hill to the point that he ends the class, but on the way out Herbert once again insults the professor, who admits to looking forward to failing him.

That evening, Dean Helsey has Dr. Hill over to his house to toast him for receiving a grant regarding a new medical invention, a surgical laser. While Megan had made the meal, she is about to leave with Dan for a study date. But Dr. Hill makes a suggestive toast about Megan, making his interest in her quite clear. After they leave, he warns the Dean about letting her date a student.

Back at his place, Megan resists Dan’s advances, instead expressing her dislike of Herbert. When Dan’s cat, Rufus, isn’t around, they search for him, but Megan goes into Herbert’s bedroom. In his mini-refrigerator, she discovers Rufus’s dead body. Herbert catches her, but Megan accuses him of killing Rufus. She calls in Dan, but Herbert claims to have found the animal dead. When Dan inquiries about the strange, glowing liquid in Herbert’s fridge, he’s told to mind his own business.

Dan's cat, Rufus, is found in a mini-fridge in Herbert's room.

Later, Dan is awakened by strange sounds, which lead him down to the basement. There he finds Herbert being attacked by Rufus, who has come back to life. Rufus attacks both men and Dan kills the creature by throwing it against the wall.

Even mangled, the dead cat is brought back to life.

Afterward, Herbert shares his re-animation theory and reveals his “re-agent” serum to Dan. He claims that life is really a chemical balance which his serum corrects. He asks Dan for his help, and to prove that it works, injects the mutilated cat, which twitches back to life. Megan arrives un-expectantly and is shocked to see what they have done.

Later, Dan explains Herbert’s discovery to Dean Halsey, but Halsey won’t listen. Instead, he threatens to take Dan’s student loans away and has Herbert expelled. But Dan sneaks Herbert into the morgue by pretending he’s a corpse. Once there in there, they search for a suitable corpse and inject it with the serum.

Megan follows her father when he comes looking for Herbert and Dan to the school. When he finds they’re in the morgue, he has someone watch Megan and goes down to take care of them.

Dan sneaks Herbert into the morgue to look for fresh prospects for his experiments.

Meanwhile, Dan and Herbert believe the serum has failed, but just then the corpse returns to zombie-like life and attacks them, you know the way the undead would do. The serum gives the corpse super strength (why wouldn’t it) and when the Dean arrives, the corpse breaks down the door and attacks him.

A reanimated corpse attacks and kills Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson).

Herbert uses a bone saw to kill the corpse, but they discover the dean has died. Herbert convinces Dan that the dean is now a “fresh” corpse and he injects the dean with the serum. Megan sneaks away and walks into the morgue as her father, again pleased with super strength, is choking both Dan and Herbert. Frothing at the mouth with blood, his colleagues assume the dean has gone insane and lock him up in a straitjacket. Dr. Hill asks Megan to sign a release allowing him to experiment on her father, which she reluctantly agrees to sign. Dr. Hill also makes a bit of a play for Megan, saying he’ll be there for her.

Later, Dan confesses to Megan that her father is actually dead and has been reanimated.

Meantime, Dr. Hill visits Herbert in his basement laboratory and reveals he knows the dean is dead. Dr. Hill bullies Herbert into sharing his research with him, even bragging what fame it will bring to himself. While Dr. Hill is looking through a microscope, Herbert attacks him with a shovel, knocking him to the ground and then beheading him. For unknown reasons, Herbert then injects Dr. Hill’s severed head and body with the serum. He places the doctor’s head on a tray and takes notes on the experiment. Dr. Hill’s head is alive and is somehow still controlling his headless body, which he wills to attack Herbert, slamming his head on the table and knocking him out.

Herbert is about to be attacked by the decapitated body of Dr. Hill (David Gale).

Dan and Megan visit her father and discover that Dr. Hill has lobotomized him with his laser beam. The subdued dean cowers in the corner. Meanwhile, Dan finds a file that Dr. Hill kept on Megan, containing pieces of her hair and indicating his obsession with her.

When Herbert regains consciousness, he discovers that not only are Dr. Hill’s head and body gone, but so is his serum and notes. When Dan returns home, Herbert confesses to Dr. Hill’s murder and re-animation.

Meanwhile, the two parts of Dr. Hill returns to his office and he has his body inject him with more serum, increasing his cognitive ability and to feed him fresh blood from his fridge. He then releases Dean Halsey and sends him to kidnap Megan.

Worried about Megan, Dan checks on her. After they share a tearful reconciliation, they are attacked by Dean Halsey, who beats up Dan and takes his daughter. Later, Herbert finds Dan and they go back to the morgue.

The zombie-like Halsey kidnaps Megan and strips her for the pleasure of  Dr. Hill's head.

Halsey takes his unconscious daughter to the morgue and lays her down next to Dr. Hill’s head. Halsey then strips off her clothes and she is strapped down by Dr. Hill’s body. His hands begin to molest her breasts. She regains consciousness and screams as Dr. Hill’s body picks up his head and holds it to her ear. He licks her face and, with the help of his hands, moves down her body with the intent on orally raping her.

Dr. Hill is abusing Megan when Dan and Herbert arrive to stop him.

That’s when Dan and Herbert arrive. While Herbert confronts Dr. Hill, Dan frees Megan and puts his shirt on her to cover her. But Dr. Hill isn’t finished; he has apparently injected the serum into the other corpses in the lab and performed lobotomies on them. On his command, they spring to life and attack the boys.

Dr. Hill has Herbert captured and begins to perform a laser lobotomy on him as well. Megan tries to reason with her father, and after he seems to recognize her, he turns his attack on Dr. Hill, crushing his detached head.

Dean Halsey kills Dr. Hill by crushing his head.

Meanwhile, Herbert injects Dr. Hill’s headless body with more serum, but instead of getting some sort of warped revenge, the corpse’s intestines spring from his body and wrap themselves around Herbert. Elsewhere, the corpses make a mess of the morgue and one ends up releasing a gas that everyone succumbs to.

Dan tries to save Megan in the ER but fails.

Before the couple can flee in the elevator, they are attacked by one of the reanimated corpses and Megan is choked. Dan runs to get a hatchet and chops off the creature’s hand, but the damage has already been done to Megan. Up in the ER, Dan tries to resuscitate her and performs CPR, but to no avail. Once again, his colleagues have to get him to stop. They leave him alone in the room. Dan leans over to kiss Megan goodbye before he remembers Herbert’s serum. As the lights go out, Dan professes his love for her before he injects the glowing liquid into her brainstem.

Desperate times call for desperate measures as Dan decides
to inject Megan with the re-animating serum.

Megan lets out a scream in the darkness.

I will be the first to admit that Re-Animator is not my kind of movie. There were several can’t-look sequences, most of them having to do with blood and brains. At times the movie was very predictable, as if I could tell what was going to happen before it did. But knowing what might not happen does not mean you’re always prepared for what does come.

Of course, most of the film is beyond unbelievable, but once you start down that slippery slope it is apparently hard to stop. There is no explanation for how a head cannot only live without a body but order that body to function independently.

I was not really familiar with any of the actors before I saw the film, but I can say Jeffrey Combs was nearly perfectly cast as the sleazy and creepy Herbert West. While you don’t like his character, he is hard not to look at.

Bruce Abbott is sort of like the straight man in a comedy duo; he doesn’t have as much to work with as the partner, but he still has to do his job so the other can do his. Dan Cain is strictly a good man led astray by a more cunning foe. Intrigued by Herbert’s discovery, he lets himself be dragged into situations he would normally have avoided.

While Barbara Crampton may have started acting in soaps, she apparently has no qualms about working in the nude. In her first film, Body Double (1984), her one big scene is her having sex. In this film, she appears completely naked several times and is the object of a rather sick sequence. Not only does her father strip her as a present for Dr. Hill, the late doctor’s decapitated head molests her. Besides the gallons of blood used, this is one of the film’s more over-the-top moments.

A film score is an important element to the experience and knowing that, Richard Band, the film’s composer, borrowed quite heavily from Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), which he considers one of the best written for a horror film. While he wanted to give Herrmann an acknowledgment in the credits, it wasn’t there when he saw the credits and he didn’t have the money to have them redone. So don’t be surprised if it sounds like you’ve heard it before, even though it does seem to work here as well.

Composer Richard Band purposefully stole Bernard
Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

While the film was only a mild success at the box-office, Re-Animator has become a cult classic.

Entertainment Weekly, according to the blurb on the Blu-Ray box, considers it “one of the greatest horror movies ever made.” While I hate to disagree with the EW, I can’t say that’s my opinion.

The film would spawn two movie sequels: Bride of the Re-Animator (1990) directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Combs and Abbott, and Beyond Re-Animator (2003) directed by Yuzna and starring Combs. There is also another H.P. Lovecraft-based film, From Beyond (1986) directed by Gordon and starring Combs and Crampton. There is always the threat of a fourth Re-Animator, but Yuzna has not yet made good. Believe it or not, a musical adaptation of Re-Animator was made and opened on Broadway in 2011.

There are certain people who will definitely like this movie, but they probably would have already seen it by now. If you like your blood and brains served with an ample side of breasts, then this is the film for you to watch this Halloween or anytime you want to subject yourself.

While I’m happy that I’ve seen the film, I don’t think I’ll be re-watching it again anytime soon. Sometimes your curiosity can be resolved without wanting to go through it again.

Be sure to check out other Horror films in our Horror Films Review Hub.

Stubs – The Coca-Cola Kid

THE COCA-COLA KID (1985) Starring: Eric Roberts, Greta Scacchi, Bill Kerr Directed by Dušan Makavejev. Screenplay by Frank Moorhouse. Produced by Les Lithgow, Sylvie Le Ciezio, and David Roe. Run Time: 98. Color. Australia. Romantic Comedy.

Oddly uninvolving, The Coca-Cola Kid tells the story of an American Coca-Cola Executive, Becker (Eric Roberts) who visits the company’s Sidney based subsidiary. Why he came and what he was trying to accomplish is never really clear, though he does fixate on sales in one area in Australia, Anderson Valley, that are non-existent. Terri (Greta Scacchi) is assigned to be Becker’s secretary while he’s in the country and she comes with baggage, namely a very cute daughter, DMZ (Rebecca Smart) and an anarchist ex-husband, Kim (Chris Haywood), who gets into a fight with Terri at the office.

In a rather odd subplot, a waiter at Becker’s hotel (David Slingsby) thinks Becker is with the CIA. And makes overtones that he’s in with whatever plot they have going. Becker tries to dissuade him, but to no avail, finally going ahead and telling the waiter that he can arrange for weapons for $50,000, just to get the guy to leave him alone.

When Becker goes to the Valley to spy on the competition, T. George McDowell (Bill Kerr), he gets shot at by T. George and then kicked out his hotel, which T. George apparently owns, as well as everything else in the Valley. Becker sleeps on, of all places, a cliff and wakes up the next morning, when a camel riding emissary comes to chase him home. But Becker, a former U.S. Marine, is able to overpower him and drives him back to T. George’s.

Suddenly, McDowell is welcoming and shows Becker around the plant, where he makes several varieties of fruit-based soft drinks. He hasn’t changed things much in the 40 years he’s been running the plant, but in some ways, he doesn’t need to. He can keep up with demand and everyone seems to like working for him and drinking his soda. He even listens to Becker’s rhetoric about selling Coca-Cola in T. George’s valley.

A few days later, T. George comes to Sydney. When Terri sees him arrive, she takes to hiding in an ice chest to avoid him. T. George has come to offer a compromise. He’ll sell Coca-Cola in his valley, if they’ll market his soda, which he now calls McCoke, outside. It is a bit of a stretch and he knows it. And while the other people in the office seem to snicker at him, Becker takes him seriously. After pulling an icy Terri out of the cooler, Becker fires her.

Meanwhile, and having nothing else to do with the story, Becker arranges for a new coke jingle with an Australian sound (read: a didgeridoo). The jingle, written by one of the musicians (Tim Finn of Split Enz fame), is very catchy. Lurking about the studio is Terri, who convinces Philip to bring Becker to a party she’s throwing that night.

Once there, she makes a point of embarrassing him by having a transvestite, Marjorie (Ian Gilmour) hit on him and having another friend take photos. Then Becker has food thrown at him. Feeling embarrassed and acting a little effeminate for a Marine, he goes into DMZ’s room and cries, until Kim comes around and starts trouble again. Instead of hustling Kim out, they both end up in the rain, seeking shelter under an overhang and getting to know each other over a few Foster’s.

When Becker goes back to Anderson Valley, he takes with him an armada of Coke delivery trucks, driven by Santa Clauses, as a goodwill gesture, but T. George hates it and has his crew throw the Santas and their trucks out. But he does invite Becker to a Rotary meeting that night and at the meeting invites Becker to meet at midnight at the factory. While T. George and crew plant dynamite about the floor, Becker goes back to his hotel room. Waiting for him, in her Santa outfit, is Terri. And after some back and forth, Becker finally gives into her sexual advances.

But that means Becker misses his meeting with T. George, who shows up the next morning at the hotel while Terri is still there. That’s when we find out that Terri is T. George’s daughter who has run away from Anderson Valley and her father. When the Cola people leave town, T. George blows up his plant and lets it burn to the ground, even going so far as to keep police and fire personnel away. It is not clear if he dies in the flames or not.

Back at his hotel, the waiter gives Becker a partial payment and Becker is able to get authorities to arrest him, but still keep the money. When Becker learns of the explosion at McDowell’s, he quits Coca-Cola and takes the money to Terri and DMZ.

The movie is uneven throughout. The storyline is somewhat confusing at best. Things are never explained, such as why T. George would destroy his own plant. We learn that Terri isn’t interested in the family business, but that’s after he’s already planted the dynamite. We don’t know why Becker is sent to Australia. Sure they’re not doing things the American way, but they are still a successful subsidiary. His change in management approach seems a little over the top.

There are also problems with characters. Becker seems to be whatever he needs to be at that moment in the film. He’s a tough-talking former Marine, espousing that Coca-Cola is somehow in the business of spreading American ideals throughout the world, but he can also cry when embarrassed. He can be unforgiving, firing Terri for being flighty, but can also be very diplomatic when dealing with T. George and tender when he first meets DMZ. (It is in that scene that he tells her to call him the Coca-Cola Kid). And Robert’s accent drifts from southern to sounding like Matthew McConaughey, which is a sort of Texas accent.

Terri is cute, voluptuous, but otherwise insane. Her behavior is odd no matter the situation. When her husband Kim comes in and demands alimony from her at work, she seems to defend him to Becker. When Becker fires her, she still hangs around work, attending the jingle recording session and volunteering to dress like Santa and drive one of the delivery trucks to Anderson Valley. How would she get such access if she was a former employee? And while she seems to be attracted to Becker, how does having photos taken of him with Marjorie help bring them together?

And while Terri and Becker do get together, it seems more that the script told them to, rather than the story lead to it. Becker is not a bad looking guy and he’s in great shape, as we see in many scenes of Roberts sans shirt, but he is also self-absorbed, cold and mean to Terri. He is what is referred to as the Ugly American, so why the pretty Australian girl would want him is never explained. But Robert’s the male lead and Scacchi’s the female lead, so they have to get together if this is to be a romantic comedy. Becker, who has been aggressively asexual throughout the film, not being attracted to Terri or to Marjorie, ends up having sex with Terri and tries to build a relationship with her at the end.

Now you might be thinking Australians have forgotten about characters and movie story-telling, you have to remember that the director is Dušan Makavejev, a Serbian filmmaker, best known for his contributions to Yugoslavian cinema in the 60’s and 70’s. He is not mainstream by a country mile. Makavejev is best remembered for two films, W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) and Sweet Movie (1974). W.R. deals with the relationship between communist politics and sexuality, while one of the plotlines in Sweet Movie involves a woman piloting a candy-filled boat down a river, seducing men and children. And after she has sex with them, she kills them. By comparison to his other films, The Coca-Cola Kid is accessible.

While I’m not a big believer in trying to read into a film a message that the filmmaker didn’t intend, Makavejev is not very subtle in using Coca-Cola as a stand-in for what I’m sure he saw as U.S. imperialism, as if the nation is trying to remake everyone in the world in our likeness, with the thirst for carbonated beverages leading the way. Becker preaches Americanism with a religious fervor to the point of embarrassment. The only way to avoid America’s influence, apparently, is to destroy yourself before they take you over, grind you up and spit you out. [It should be noted that there are several disclaimers at the beginning of the film, at least on the DVD, in which Coca-Cola distances itself from any involvement with the film.]

There are two things that make The Coca-Cola Kid almost worthwhile. First, for men, is a shower scene featuring Terri and DMZ. While the nudity is obviously gratuitous, there is nothing wrong with seeing a 25-year-old Scacchi in the all-together. She later appears semi-nude in her bedroom scene with Becker, but the shower scene is the most memorable one in the film.

The other thing is the coke jingle. While it was that Australian sound, it is also very catchy. Why this was not nominated for an Academy Award for best original song is beyond me. (“Say You, Say Me” by Lionel Ritchie from White Nights won the award that year if anybody’s interested.) Tim Finn, at the time Scacchi’s boyfriend, also had a bit part in the film, but scores one of the more memorable moments in the film. Once you hear the song, it is hard to forget. If you don't want to have to watch the film to hear the jingle you can click here.

Overall, though, I would not recommend The Coca-Cola Kid. While a movie can still be well made and drive home a political thought, it doesn’t appear that Makavejev can do both. And there are not enough Scacchi shower scenes that can make up for the fact The Coca-Cola Kid is flat.

Stubs - Lost In America

LOST IN AMERICA (1985) Starring: Albert Brooks and Julie Haggerty. Directed by Albert Brooks. Written by Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson. Produced by Marty Katz. Music by Arthur B. Rubinstein. Run Time: 91 minutes. Color. U.S., Comedy

Triple threat Albert Brooks’ third feature, LOST IN AMERICA tells the story of two Los Angeles yuppies who suddenly find out they are not as upwardly mobile as they once thought and decide to drop out of society.

David (Albert Brooks) and Linda Howard (Julie Haggerty) are on the brink of big changes in their lives. They are about to move into a new house and David is on the verge of a big promotion to Senior Vice President at the ad firm where he works. So convinced is he that his ship has come in, that he considers buying a new Mercedes Benz.

But Linda hates the new house and David doesn’t get the promotion. Instead, his boss, Paul Dunn (Michael Greene) offers David the chance to work on the Ford Motors account, the agency’s newest. No promotion and David will be required to move to New York and work under Brad Tooley (Tom Tarpey), the Sr. VP in that office. David doesn’t take the bad news very well and tells off his boss and gets fired.

He then convinces Linda to quit her job in the Broadway’s (now Macy’s) Human Resources department. His idea is that they will leave not only LA but the lifestyle they feel trapped in and go on the road, a la EASY RIDER. But instead of a hog, David suggests buying a Winnebago. By liquidating everything they own and including the equity they have on their old house, David is convinced they can drive around the country and live off their nest egg forever, or until they find someplace else they’d like to live. Linda goes along and the two set out for their adventure.

First stop, Las Vegas to renew their wedding vows. But they arrive late and Linda suggests they spend the night at a luxury hotel and get married in the morning. David reluctantly goes along and the two end up in a Junior Bridal Suite at the Desert Inn, which oddly enough has two heart-shaped beds in it. They agree to wake up the next morning, get married and continue their drop out from society.

All is well until the next morning. David wakes up alone and finds Linda down in the casino losing big. And by big, she has gambled away the couple’s nest egg. Day two and they are broke. And it is at this point, the movie seems to slow down. After a lame attempt to get the Desert Inn to give them back their money, David and Linda head to Hoover Dam. David is mad, but not letting it out and at Hoover Dam, ironically, he breaks.

Linda runs away, hitching a ride from a total stranger. David follows after them and finds them at a diner somewhere down the road. The man with Linda wants to fight David, who is clearly out muscled. He is saved when the police are called and the man runs, since he is wanted. Next the couple gets pulled over for speeding, but talk the officer out of the ticket by bringing up EASY RIDER, which happens to be the motorcycle cop’s favorite film.

After that, the couple decides to settle in the first place they come to, Safford Arizona, a small town with little opportunity. They each set out to find work. Linda gets a job as an assistant manager at a Der Weinerschnitzel and David as a crossing guard at a school. On his first day, David is reminded of the lifestyle he gave up when a man stops to ask how to get back to Los Angeles driving the same Mercedes Benz David was contemplating buying.

David and Linda decide that the best approach is to drive like crazy to New York and for David to get his old job back. In a hurried conclusion to the movie, they do just that, taking the long southern route from Arizona to New York via Texas, Alabama and the Carolinas. David emerges from the Winnebago just in time to confront Brad on the street in front of the ad agency’s offices. We’re told in an afterword text that David got his job back at a reduced salary and that Linda got a job at Bloomingdale’s.

I like Albert Brooks. He is a very funny man. His Comedy Minus One album (1973) is still funny after numerous listenings. But he was still a filmmaker in training at the point he made LOST IN AMERICA. He had only directed two feature films before this one, the heavily flawed REAL LIFE (1979) and his better, but still flawed second film MODERN ROMANCE (1981). (He had done a series of six short films for the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975.) All three of his first features have some great, memorable and funny lines in them. But the premises are usually better than the final product. While LOST IN AMERICA is an improvement in many ways over his first two films, it still bogs down in places and some of the sketches are a little longer than they are funny.

Overall, though, it is a funny film and if you are a fan of Albert Brooks’ work, I would highly recommend it. However, if you have never seen an Albert Brooks directed movie before, you might want to start with DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (1991), or MOTHER (1996) or THE MUSE (1999). His work gets better and more consistent with time.