What to Stream: Meryl Streep Charms Albert Brooks in 'Defending Your Life'
Defending Your Life (1991) Amazon Instant, iTunes
The Basics: A comedy starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep; directed by Brooks
If You Liked: Heaven Can Wait, Modern Romance, Groundhog Day
The Nugget: Brook’s wry, gentle vision of life after death — with an intoxicating Streep as his heavenly main squeeze.
After a string of Oscar bait dramas and astringent comedies, Streep delivered this low-key, but ridiculously charming portrayal of the dearly departed Julia, who catches the eye of writer/director/star Brooks’s funny, uptight Daniel in Judgment City, a resort-like purgatory where the recently deceased take stock of their lives and find out if they’re moving on to the mysterious next level. Brooks’s sharply imagined details about the afterlife — you can eat all the time and not gain weight! — are a joy to behold, as is Julia and Daniel’s slowly dawning romance. If you’re still curdled by Streep’s bitter August: Osage County turn, this is the perfect buoyant palate cleanser. She is delightful.
Photo credit: ©Everett Collection
