Lost in America
Tags: cult, satire

Plot synopsis:
David and Linda Howard are typical 1980s yuppies in Los Angeles who are fed up with their lifestyle. He works in an advertising agency and she for a department store. But after he fails to receive a promotion he was counting on and is instead asked to transfer to the firm's New York office, David angrily insults his boss and is fired. He coaxes his wife to quit her job as well and seek a new adventure.
The Howards decide to sell their house, liquidate their assets, drop out of society, "like in Easy Rider", and travel the country in a Winnebago recreational vehicle. They leave L.A. with a "nest egg" of a hundred thousand dollars but do not get very far. The plan goes awry when Linda loses all their savings playing roulette at the Desert Inn Casino in Las Vegas, where a desperate David tries in vain to persuade a casino manager to give the money back.
With nowhere to go, the couple quarrels at Hoover Dam, then ends up in Safford, Arizona. David unsuccessfully applies for a delivery job at a local pharmacy and resorts to an employment agency. After a counselor obnoxiously reminds him that he was fired from his high-paying job in advertising, David accepts the best position available — as a crossing guard, taunted by local school kids.
Linda, meanwhile, finds employment as the assistant manager at the local Der Wienerschnitzel, working under a kid half her age.
Only a few days after beginning their pursuit of the dream of dropping out of society, David and Linda are living in a trailer park, almost broke, working dead end jobs and accountable to brats. They decide that it is better to get back to their old lifestyle as soon as possible. They point the Winnebago toward New York, where David begs for his old job back.

Review: Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty are perfect as the classic yuppie couple that decide to set out on the open road after a series of strange circumstances.
"I'll just check my $100,000 a year job file." Brooks is also great when he tries to reason with the casino owner, and arguing with Hagerty over her inability to use the words "nest" and "egg".
"From now on, birds live in ROUND STICKS!!!, for breakfast, you will have THINGS over easy!!!!"Most of the best dialogue and scenes are delivered from Brooks, but Hagerty is quite good as well, as the timid wife whos honest, yet HUGE blunder sets the tone for the rest of the film.
Most fans of this film -- and it certainly has a cult following -- will gleefully cite scenes ranging from the legendary "nest egg" speech to the job service interview as examples of terrific comedy, and I wholeheartedly agree: Lost in America is very funny.
Brooks, who not only co-wrote the film but also stars and directs, only falters a bit when it comes to the overall pacing (I thought the section that opens the film spends too much time in Los Angeles before the couple decides to head out for the open road), but this is a minor complaint.
hard to pick, but probably when Albert Brooks comes down to the casino in his bathrobe looking for Julie Haggerty and finds her chanting..."22,22,22,22." When asked how down she is she says "Down." When asking the casino operator how down she is he says "Down."Another player says "She really likes 22"I have seen this movie over and over again and it just keeps getting funnier each time I see it.
I am a big Albert Brooks fan, Defending your life is very good and Real Life is also a favorite.If you like dry humor and great dialog see this one for sure!.
The story takes a giant turn for the funnier as Brooks and Hagerty enjoy a 80's version of Easy Rider as they discover themselves on the open road of their lives.
Brooks' phone conversation with Hans, the Mercedes salesman (voiced by Brooks himself), the firing scene with "Brad" and his ad jingle for Ford, the check-in at the Las Vegas hotel, and, of course, Brooks' sales pitch to the casino manager (Gary Marshall), are just a few of the gems, which, when added up result in one of the funniest films ever made..
Hysterically funny film by Brooks about his character, David Howard, a yuppie who loses his job after his dream of a promotion falls through as an ad exec and decides to take his scatter-brained wife (Hagerty) cross country a la "Easy Rider" but in a Winnebago but gets seriously side-tracked in Las Vegas.
Most of the scenes are nothing more than confrontations between him and another character, but they are nicely varied and impeccably played: Brooks's manic unraveling in front of his boss as he quits his advertising job; Brooks trying to convince Gary Marshall (as a Vegas casino executive) to give him his lost money back; Brooks explaining the "nest egg principle" to Julie Hagerty (as his wife) after she has blown their life savings at roulette; Brooks's interview with a cynical small town job counselor; Brooks as a crossing guard taunted by obnoxious pre-teens on bicycles (the funniest such scene since W.C. Fields); Brooks's telephone conversation with a supercilious Mercedes salesman; Brooks applying for a job as a drug store delivery boy (he plans to use his Winebago); Brooks's incredulous meeting with Skippy, his wife's 19-year-old new boss at a fast food joint.
Papa Villone asserts that "If you can manage to find more than four memorable quotes in a film, it's a classic of some sort." Well, Albert Brooks' 1985 film Lost In America is so stocked with great quotes that it's off Papa's meter: "MERCEDES leather?
In probably the finest job- quitting scene in the history of film, Brooks explodes in the most acerbic, articulate way everybody has always dreamed of when realizing all their years of hard work mean nothing.He leaves his job, talks his wife (Julie Haggerty) into quitting hers, and they decide to "find themselves" on the open road "just like Easy Rider." They sell EVERYTHING, buy a Winnebago and STILL have about 150,000 dollars to their name and head to Vegas.
These are professional opinions you're getting.") There are other great scenes, as the desperate couple tries to find work to support themselves: An interview with an unemployment counselor, who listens, baffled, to Brooks explaining why he left a $100,000-a-year job because he couldn't "find himself." And Brooks' wife introducing her new boss, a teenage boy.The funniest aspect of the film, though, is the element of materialistic panic Brooks is able to squeeze out of his character.
Albert Brooks is a wonderful talent, somewhat of a Woody Allen offshoot, and his script writing is witty and has just the right amount of offbeat humour to it.The film has a great premise, and the characters are realistic and sympathetic enough to retain attention, but it moves too fast and feels underdeveloped.
A Yuppie couple leaves its jobs, liquidates its assets, and buys an RV, intent on living on the road like their idols in "Easy Rider." Things don't go as planned because of a single event.
He tells his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty, whom I recall as the flight attendant in the very funny Airplane!(1980)) that this is all for the best because, like his hero from the movie Easy Rider (1969), he wants to quit the rat race, drop out of society and just get on the road and see America.She too quits her job.
I'll leave the details for you to observe while noting that this is a funny and ultimately charming movie, a romantic comedy for the already married done in a low-key manner ending in yuppie irony.See this for Albert Brooks whose modest career includes roles in some fine flicks most notably, Broadcast News (1987), and Taxi Driver (1976).(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!).
I was underwhelmed but not really disappointed.David Howard (Brooks) is an advertising guy who is expecting a promotion, but when he doesn't get it, he decided to take his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) to start a new life, Easy Rider style.
However, when they get to Vegas, David finds out something about Linda that will change their entire journey.Put simply, Lost in America is not a funny movie.
I think Brooks was having trouble keeping a lot of funny things for reality; much of what was somewhat funny was whatever was improvised and started to grow a little over-the-top.On the other hand, where at one point Lost in America failed with it having be in a basis of reality, it was good that it seemed real, that it could happen to anyone.
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).
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.
this is often seen and reviewed as a mid-80a update to the culture shock and general societal alienation manifested in the early 60s; nope; it's mainly one of the first post women's lib male emasculation movies; short take- a couple of airhead CA types decide to sort of bail on the big bucks and the system; crossing the country in vegas the simpering, cutey-pie wife morphs into a hysteric who loses all their money at the tables; then she berates him for being mad about it, for even mentioning it; she becomes so peeved she also gets into a car and goes off with another guy; nice; but the almost eunuch pursues, is beat up by the new guy, and simmers as she laughs at her husband for his general ineptness and cowardliness with her boyfriend of the minute; now a full eunuch brooks finally gets them to nyc where he takes the same old job with a 31% salary cut, and still with the simpering wife who lost all their money; it's all brooks, which is sometimes brilliant, sometimes needing an editor; but no way it's a lighthearted long, long trailer type trials and tribulations as lucy and desi find out what's most important.
We have all wanted to do it.At one time or another we have all wanted to flee our drab,bottomless pit lives to see and discover the world.It's a very tempting idea.Fortunately,what we learn from films like Lost in America is that Winnebagos don't run on faith.Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty teach us this lesson well,making us laugh at them,as well as ourselves when we picture ourselves in their position.When it comes to comedies,I tend to lean more toward the slapstick side of things.It's the way I have always been,but Lost in America gives us laughs and teaches us a lesson at the same time,making it worth seeing again..
Along with Defending Your Life, and of course, Real Life, Brooks is an absolute master at dry, subtle humor.When this movie came out, I was about ten years away from being the "right" age to blow up at my boss, drop out and live free like in Easy Rider.
Once they hit their financial nadir, they look for jobs, work them for one day, and the film ends with a cop-out minutes later.Sorry to forward-project, but I was a GREAT admirer of Brooks' "Defending Your Life".
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.
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.
Brooks is in a class by himself.I happen to relish his droll wit, and there are many scenes in this movie that I look forward to watching every time I rerun it, which is about twice a year.
One of the best comedies ever...I crack up every time I see the part where he's working as the crossing guard and sniffs the leather inside the luxury car which stops & asks for directions...It's a cruel reversal from Lester Burnham in "American Beauty"...as Kevin Spacey's character really wants to experience minimum wage employment again (to spite his wife), but Albert Brooks' David Howard has hit the skids because of his dim-witted spouse.
And yet, he sucks it up and makes it work in the end because he still loves her...Ain't love grand!The fact that America never embraced Albert Brooks' films is a crying shame....
This film is like a joke that doesn't make you laugh when you hear it but that gets funnier and funnier as time goes on and you find yourself in situations that remind you of this movie.
He takes his suppressed wife along with him, and just like that, without anyone really noticing, "Lost In America" is off to the races.Since every one of Albert Brooks' films are damn near perfect(with the exception of his 1999 clunker, "The Muse"), it is silly to call this his best film.
The subplots are a little more than quick, sketch-like detours, leaving the central story of what actually happens when responsible people drop out to fill the screen for all ninety-one minutes of neurotic bliss.The smartest thing Brooks could have done was to make it appear as if this was a movie about two people with a lot of money and a Winnebago travelling across country, encountering hijinks along the way.
David Howard (played by Albert Brooks) and his wife, Linda Howard (played by Julie Hagerty) have the good life and everything that goes with it and are just about to move into their California dream house.
"Lost in America" is a very funny comedy about a married couple that decide to quit their jobs by a motorhome and hit the open road.
Every couple of three years, I have to rent this movie simply to live vicariously through an on-the-job twist that Brooks' character encounters and his hilarious and wonderful reaction to it.
A friend turned me on to LOST IN AMERICA a few years ago and nothing I've seen since has compared - in any way, shape or form.Basic outline: A successful, middle-aged couple from New York gather up their nest egg and decide to drop out of society.
The lead actor also directs and most of the scenes in the film go on too long and are far too self-indulgent and are not very funny.The story is: A company executive thinks he will get promoted but does not and in a huff decides to leave his well paid job and take his wife and to do an "Easy Rider" across America in a trailer.Our executive is not the type to do that kind of thing being basically a greedy self centred person, and he soon discovers the errors of his ways, but the film ending is vague and unsatisfactory.
I do like Albert Brooks, and there were moments of genuine hilarity in "Lost in America"...
There's a great deal of potential for humor in Brooks and Hagerty's situation, but a lot of it gets lost in its underlying bleakness.Worse, structurally this film is a MESS (and to explain this involves revealing the ending, so be warned).
A husband (the obnoxious Albert Brooks) and wife (the charming Julie Hagerty) in their 30s decide to quit their jobs, live as free spirits and cruise America in a Winnebago.Although this film is praised by critics and the AFI, I found it to just be so-so.
Brooks, for whatever reason, just does not appeal to me as a lead.Some scenes are amusing, and I like the recurring references to "Easy Rider", but this is not the sort of movie I could see myself watching a second or third time..
This movie focuses on two yuppies (Brooks, Julie Hagerty) who have tired of their lifestyle and decide to take to the road in a Winnebago a la "Easy Rider." First Hagerty loses all their money at blackjack, which precipitates Brooks' hilarious "nest egg" speech.
If you've never seen an Albert Brooks movie--and if you're like much of America, you've never had this treat--this is a great primer.
When David Howard (Brooks), the creative director for one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, fails to get the promotion he's `waited his whole life for,' he quits his job (`Well, I got fired, but it's the same thing'), then convinces his wife, Linda (Julie Hagerty), to do the same.
Among the most memorable are the ones with Michael Greene (As David's boss), when he informs David that instead of a promotion he's being transferred to New York to work on their latest acquisition, Ford (`We got trucks, too.'); one with Garry Marshall (As a casino manager in Las Vegas); and finally, the scene in which David explains the concept of the `nest egg' to Linda, which has to be, historically, one of the classic comedy scenes of all time.
Lost in America shows that Albert Brooks is a unique individual, who can tell a realistic story with dialogue and structure that are just as quirky as his character, David Howard.
While most of the film force feeds the importance of living life by your own terms (especially with too many references to Easy Rider) David getting his "executive" job back at the end shows that, as I have read somewhere before, financial stability can equal emotional stability at times..
After Julie Hagerty's character loses the entire nest egg in their first stop in Vegas, I couldn't watch the movie anymore and I walked out by the time they got to the Grand Canyon.I don't know if it was just my disappointment at Albert Brooks' use of such an obvious situational device as the loss of all the money to set up the rest of the film, or my own sense of unquenchable murderous rage at the wife for having been so weak and stupid to lose every dime and completely undermine the rest of their lives, but I could not watch another frame of this movie, and have not gone back to it to this day.
'Lost in America' is a largely overlooked comedic gem of a movie, directed by and starring the intermittently brilliant comedian Albert Brooks.
'Lost in America' finds David Howard (Brooks) expecting a big promotion at the ad agency where he works.
Son of a bitch, that was some ending.Albert Brooks' "Lost in America" takes two middle-class yuppies (Brooks and Julie Hagerty) and sends them out on the open road to "find themselves".
It's what julie hagerty says to her husband albert brooks after she, in one evening, gambles away their life's savings right after they quit their jobs to retire in their RV!!This is a very funny show about how everything goes wrong in the world.
Yuppies Albert Brooks & Julie Hagerty decide to drop out of society, buy a Winnebago and hit the road.
As Albert Brooks's character, David Howard, consistenly asks, "Have you ever seen Easy Rider?" Basically, he and his wife just pick up and head off to get away from it all and they think they've got their "roughing" it epiphany all planned out.