Lost in Albert Brooks

My daughter Jenifer reminds me from time to time of her father’s influence early on in her pop culture life, by calling me to rave about one of my favorite movies. It is typically a film from the early to mid eighties that I liked, taped, and watched over and over. She usually does this after rediscovering it on HBO or Cinemax or some other cable movie venue.

“Dad”, she calls on the phone, “I just saw this move you used to like...it’s really funny!”

She must have been sitting next to me on the couch, probably unaware of the movie, just sitting with her Dad before bedtime. The images burned into her subconscious, though not totally understood at the time.

The most recent of these semi-total recalls from her childhood is Lost in America from 1985.

It starred Albert Brooks and Julie Haggerty. She also starred in the 1980 spoof classic Airplane as the ditsy stewardess (Elaine Dickinson) opposite Robert Hays (Ted Striker). Airplane began a series of Jim Abrahams and David Zucker put-ons like Hot Shots, Top Secret, Naked Gun, and Police Squad.

Lost in America was written and directed by Albert Brooks. It is the quintessential comedy homage to Easy Rider. Brooks and Haggerty play successful yuppies living in L.A. He decides to quit his disappointing job (an advertising executive who gets passed over for a big promotion) and convince his wife to quit her job and liquidate all their assets to travel around the country in a newly-purchased Winnebago...thus somewhat emulating his favorite movie of all time: Easy Rider.

“We need to get out and see America...we need to touch Indians!”, Brooks rants in his speech convincing his wife to buy into this idea. Without giving too much away, they really don’t get too far before things start falling apart. There is a hilarious scene at their first stop, Las Vegas, where Brooks tries to convince a casino manager (Gary Marshall) to return all the money his wife lost at the roulette table. Since Brooks’ character is an ad executive, he comes up with all sorts of outrageous angles for an ad campaign extolling the virtues of the Desert Inn “because they return your money when you lose...”

Albert Brooks is perfect as the beleaguered David Howard, who has not only quit his job, but his wife has lost all their “nest egg”. His lecture to her about the nest egg is classic Brooks. She is not ”allowed” to ever use those two words again, she must use only a description or synonyms of a nest and of an egg.

Albert Brooks was also the voice of Marlin in Finding Nemo (2003). Other movie credits include The In Laws (2003, Jerry Peyser), The Muse (1999, Steven Phillips), Broadcast News (1987, Aaron Altman),Terms of Endearment (1983, Rudyard Greenway), Taxi Driver (1976, Tom), and the now-filming Untitled Albert Brooks Project.

If you are pining over the Netflix or Blockbuster lists and you have seen all the ‘big ones’, give Lost in America a try. It is irreverant humor for anyone even slightly disenchanted with his or her career, the B.S. of a corporate job, or life in general.

Thanks again Jen. It is always nice to see evidence of my influence on you!