Synopsis
Lost in America (1985) is Albert Brooks' cult satire, and you can watch it online on iFILM. David Howard expects a promotion and instead gets shoved into a transfer to New York. So he talks his wife into the fantasy every burned-out office worker secretly nurses: drop everything and go.
David and Linda (Brooks and Julie Hagerty) sell the house, cash out their savings, buy an enormous Winnebago and set off to roam the country, free as the riders in Easy Rider. The dream collapses on night one in Las Vegas, where Linda feeds nearly their entire "nest egg" into a roulette wheel. What follows is a frantic scramble to undo it, and a sobering lesson in what freedom actually costs.
Brooks wrote, directed and starred — this is his signature comedy of embarrassment, aimed straight at the self-deception of the comfortable middle class. The scene where he begs a casino manager (Garry Marshall) to refund the losses "as a publicity gesture" has been quoted for decades. Smart, mean and still funny, it rewards anyone who likes their humor without a safety net. Stream Lost in America (1985) online on iFILM.
Starring
Comments 0