Albert Brooks is literally the Einstein of American comedy. The other Albert Einstein gave us quantum mechanics and the Observer Effect, the theory that the mere observation of a phenomenon inevitably changes that phenomenon. Albert Brooks (née Einstein) applied the Observer Effect to show business and real life and discovered the formula: Reality + Observation = Fake

Real Life didn’t just predict the future, but manipulated time and created our present. Brooks showed us personal privacy as a fungible commodity. He understood that the audience craves fake, reality sucks. He knew that cups without balls doesn’t mean jack shit. It’s satire so caustic and reactive that its coagulant is the Kardashian world we are struggling to keep up with.

Real…

When I was a kid, I loved reality television. From the ages of about 8 to 14, I would watch any reality tv show I could get my hands on. This meant if it was airing on TLC, I was gobbling it up. Toddlers and Tiaras, Say Yes to the Dress (I was partial to the Bridesmaid edition), 19 Kids and Counting, Breaking Amish, Long Island Medium, and of course Jon and Kate Plus 8. I don't watch reality television (or much television at all unless it's one or two seasons long) anymore but for some reason when I was a child I could not get enough of it, and it hardly mattered what the subject material was as long…

There's a notable abundance of material which was appealing upon the mind of Albert Brooks in this directorial debut from the American actor, comedian, writer and director. While many of its characteristics chiefly spoof reality television, in particular PBS’s 1973’s An American Family, incorporate an inherent bleakness, he prepares his arguments humorously and entirely successfully.  

In many ways, it functions as a mockumentary as a film crew sets out to record a year in the life of a regular American family, and the prevalence of the topics are brimming with a forward-looking commentary on socialisation as his quarry encompasses not just reality television but also documentary filmmaking. The movie tackles aspects which were ahead of their time and the…

"And I think if you ask any magician he'll tell you that cups without balls doesn't mean jack shit!"

This movie has no business being as good as it is–it's less of a comedy and more squarely part of the Non-Horror Horror genre. It's layer upon layer upon layer of satire; the depths to which this film goes for its gallows humor is so chillingly dark I wouldn't be surprised if most people mistook it for light. It's a commentary on the falsities of the nuclear family, the power of media, the greed of Hollywood, the moral grey areas of psychological studies, the naivety of Americans, intellectual hot air, the emptiness of celebrity, and toxic masculinity. Albert Brooks represents everything…

"Let's think about me for just one second."

REAL LIFE, the debut feature of Albert Brooks, predicted the future. And that may be the most amazing part of the movie — it concludes with the narcissistic main character giving in to paranoid hysteria, having seen his own interior perception of what "reality" should be crumble around him, but time has ultimately proven the fictional character Albert Brooks right.

Privacy is moot and audiences don't want real, they want flights of fancy and escapism. They want a constructed, picturesque vision of reality, not the authentic picture. It isn't hard to see this reflected all around us today.

It is hard to imagine the reaction to REAL LIFE in a society that…

Wait a second, wait a second... This is Albert Brooks's directorial *debut*? Are you kidding me? This movie is directed with such poise and aplomb it seemed the handiwork of a veteran filmmaker.

I don't know if it's appropriate to say that this film was prescient about phenomena such as reality TV and ever-present media. But it does ring true to - excuse for the somewhat intentional pun - real life. This feeling for me is enhanced by the fact that it takes place in Phoenix. As such, not only does it have familiar physical landmarks but other touchstones of living in the "Valley of the Sun" (The Arizona Republic, Channel 5 News).

So even though this was a project…