LOST IN AMERICA

US, 1985, 91 minutes, Colour.
Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty.
Directed by Albert Brooks.

Lost in America was directed and co-written by Albert Brooks who takes the leading role. He appeared in Taxi Driver. He produced and directed Modern Problems. This film received good reviews in America - not so good elsewhere. Perhaps the film captures the young adult, upwardly mobile executive group and their pretensions. The film has a lot of irony - but is often gentle. Albert Brooks and Julie Haggerty (Flying High, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy) are an affluent couple who hope for promotion - but who decide, like neo-Easy Riders, to go out on the American road. It has fatal results, especially in the wife's losing their money and nest-egg at Las Vegas. For a time they try for temporary jobs in a small Arizona town. Ultimately they rejoin the rat-race. While the film has its humorous moments, offers a mirror to modern middle-aged and younger adults, it is a piece of slight American comedy.

1. The appeal of this kind of comedy? American audiences? Universal? The critical American acclaim? Less positive reaction elsewhere? Touching the American nerve? Sense of humour?

2. The re-creation of the Californian Yuppie world? The contrast with Las Vegas and the casinos; on the American road. Arizona and Hoover Dam, - the small American town, New York? A glimpse across the United States7 Environment and characters? Decor, clothes, style? Musical score and songs? The continued reference to films - and the enjoyment for film buffs?

3. The reverence for Easy Rider, the dropouts of the 1960s, their values, freedom, going on the road? The drug world of Easy Rider? The gambling world of Lost in America? The transition from the 1960s to the '80s; change, values? Survival? The quiet of the dropout world? The final decision to surrender and re-enter the rat-race? The counterpoint between the two worlds?

4. The title and its reference to the couple adrift in America? The loss of money? How are people of this kind lost in America?

5. David and Linda, the opening, their marriage, David's anxieties, Linda's response, the quality of their relationship? An ordinary couple upwardly mobile? The selling of the house, packing, their hopes? David's doubts? The build-up to the interviews? Their changing present - and their futures? Characters, man versus woman, the friendship and battle of the sexes? A comedy of worry?

6. David and his anxiety, dressing, going to work, the call about the Mercedes, the interview, his nerves, the realisation that he was to be sacked? The world of advertising, of Ford, of New York? His outburst and being sacked? His record, the meaning of the eight years in advertising? Hysteric response? Leaving the office, urging Linda to give up her job, the freedom of the road, the nest egg, the buying of the mobile house - the new Easy Riders?

7. Linda and her strength, her work, her hopes, leaving her job, love for David and going with him?

8. The farewell party - and the speeches, sincere and pretentious? The caravan, leaving, the exhilaration of freedom, doing what they wanted? The decision to marry again? The trip, Las Vegas - and its aura?

9. The room and the bribe to get in, the kitschy beds, the bellhop and his ignorance? David and his hopes? Linda going downstairs, gambling everything away? The dramatic impact of her gambling? Her glazed look, her obsession with the numbers, losing the money? The manager? David's interview with him, the ideas for a campaign, the manager not accepting them?

10. Linda and the effect, her being sorry, urging David to anger, her own upset, the visit to Hoover Dam, telling truths to each other, fighting, her going off with the hitch-hiker? David chasing? The clash and the fight?, The irony of their speeding - and the chatter with the policeman about Easy Rider and his letting them off?

11. The decision to settle in the town, their being broke?, The interviews about the job - David's high salary, the people in the town disbelieving him? The Mercedes and the driver going past, his conversation? His decision to take up the job (after not being able to do deliveries for the shop)? The antagonism of the kids, urging the traffic through? The boredom? The young manager and Linda's job? His doming home and reacting brashly? The experience of the town, the caravan park, the old people?

12. The decision to go back to New York, their humiliating themselves and the epilogue about their success?

13. The comic touches, visual, verbal? Irony? Wry comment on America? Gentle? Real? Feelings, opportunities, emotions and decisions?