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Actors: Albert Brooks, Julie Haggerty, Garry Marshall
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Lost In America |
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David Howard (Brooks) is so confident of a Manhattan ad agency promotion that he orders a loaded Mercedes. He is understandably furious when sidestepped by a lesser “creative.”
Not settling for a token account, he and his wife Linda (Haggerty) liquidate everything (“we got a free ride on the 1980's inflation train”), buy a Winnebago, and head to Las Vegas to renew their vows. But that night, Linda loses their entire “nest egg” in the casino.
What follows includes Brooks' convoluted logic to try to convince the casino manager (Marshall) to return his money; an uproarious fight atop Hoover Dam; and the stark realization that they must start over in small-town Arizona to survive. While Linda takes a job in a chicken place, David tries to finesse something grander from an employment agent, “surely you've got a special section in there with the $100,000 jobs?” He doesn't. So David accepts work as a crossing guard. In one scene, with stop sign in hand, he wistfully discusses one driver's Mercedes, similar to the one he'd ordered. “What's not to like,” the driver asks.
When David meets Linda's franchise “manager” of about seventeen, the two deadpan about how great she is. “That's why I hired her.” “Well that's why I married her.”
Brooks' wry dialog and one-liners are completely convincing for a couple who's predicament is anything but funny. In the end, they throw pride to the desert wind and take the only avenue available.
--Angry Jim Magin, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Lost In America |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kind of comedy
- riches to rags
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- business executive
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair type
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
Profession/status:
- business executive
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Desert?
Yes
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- wealthy
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- dumb Rednecks, like Gomer Pyle
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
- school
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
If this is a kid's movie...
- Ages 10-15
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Modern rock/pop
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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