Such a frustrating disappointment

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I smiled twice during the movie. Best thing I can say is, I didn't fall asleep.

Released in 1985 and directed by Albert Brooks from a script by Brooks & Monica Johnson, "Lost in America" is a satirical road dramedy about a yuppie couple in their 30s (Brooks and Julie Hagerty) who forsake their good jobs in Los Angeles, liquidate their assets, and endeavor to roam America in a Winnebago, like in "Easy Rider" (well, sort of; those dudes had motorcycles and little cash). This movie was a commercial success at the time, although not a blockbuster, and highly praised by critics, which is why it's ranked amongst the AFI's top 100 comedies. Incredibly, it currently has a 96% critic-rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience-rating closer to reality at 76%.In light of the radical critical praise, I was wholly disappointed the first time I tried to watch "Lost in America" and ended up fast-forwarding it through the second half. Last night, though, I decided to give it the chance it deserves. The problem for me is that this is a decidedly dialog-driven dramedy rather than event-driven, which would be okay if the dialog was entertaining or funny, but that's hardly the case (for me anyway). Brooks' character has marathon-length dialogues with several people through the course of the film – his wife, his boss, a casino owner, a job counselor, a hot dog joint manager, etc. – and it's mostly pointless drivel with only a smattering of amusing moments. Another problem is that, while the title says "Lost IN America," the events in the story are limited to three basic areas: (1.) The first act occurs in Los Angeles, mostly indoors (house and offices), (2.) the second act in Las Vegas & nearby Hoover Dam, and (3.) the last act in the small town of Safford, Arizona. That's it. Only in the last seven minutes does it become a genuine road movie with brief clips of the southern portion of the USA (e.g. Las Cruces, Houston and Atlanta) and Washington DC and New York City. I wouldn't mind this if the dialog and encounters of the bulk of the movie were actually entertaining.An additional problem is that there are no females beyond Hagerty's ditzy character, even though most of the second act takes place in Vegas. Needless to say, the movie drops the ball on the female front. Furthermore, Brooks lacks the charisma to carry a film like this; it needed someone like Bill Murray. Despite my criticisms, I do like the moral of the story, which is driven home at the climax. Also, there are amusing elements throughout "Lost in America" and it works as a period piece, but its overall quality isn't anywhere near where the hype puts it. It's an okay, but pedestrian mid-80's dramedy. The film runs 91 minutes.GRADE: C

SPOILER ALERT! Surely one of the funniest films of the 1980s. Yuppies Albert Brooks & Julie Hagerty decide to drop out of society, buy a Winnebago and hit the road. Things go from hopeful to hopeless pretty quickly. Leaving LA, they get as far as Las Vegas where Hagerty gets caught up in a mean, and unlucky, gambling streak. The couple soon realize that the materialistic life they fled was actually good for them. Brooks is brilliantly funny and the script (by Brooks & Monica Johnson) is chock full of now classic scenes: Brooks & Hagerty checking into a hotel's "junior" bridal suite; Hagerty getting a job at a fast food joint called Der Wienersnitzl; Brooks blowing up at his boss and informing him that their "toupee secret" is off. This remains Brooks's best film, so rich and so telling. Brooks is very well matched by the slightly off-kilter Hagerty and the supporting cast includes Michael Greene as Brooks's insensitive boss and a very funny Gary Marshall as a befuddled casino manager.

Few comedies can truly be called cinematic masterpieces. Particularly in the last two decades we've seen a real scarcity of comic inspiration in the cinema. Albert Brooks' "Lost in America" is brilliant. Easily the best comedy of the bloated 1980s, possibly of the last thirty years. It ranks among the works of Preston Sturges in terms of sheer comic invention.Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty are a Los Angeles yuppie couple who are happily married but feel stuck in the go-go 1980s decade of shallow materialism. When Brooks doesn't get the promotion he feels he deserves he spontaneously quits and convinces his wife to do the same. they liquidate their assets, buy a mobile home and ride off "just like Easy Rider" into America, to find themselves and "touch Indians".One thing about Brooks' comedy style: it is brutally, brutally cynical. You just know their jaunt into the heartland of America isn't going to end well. And yet, Brooks' sincerity about his character "making a statement" about selling everything and going off in search of America is clearly genuine. That what makes this film so remarkable. This is a portrait of an artist in wild conflict with himself. When Brooks sees the Mercedes at the end and the film shifts to soft-focus lighting and we hear a choir singing - that has to be one of the funniest, yet most cynical moments in any comedy ever made.I would highly recommend this film to anyone. However, not everyone "gets" Brooks' style of comedy. Some people seem to find him annoying. But he is one of the funniest men alive, too.Also, the scene with Brooks and the casino manager when Brooks pitches his advertising "idea", is one of the funniest scenes in film history.