Defending Your Life movie review

So what happens when you die? The reality is that no one has a %#!@ clue. Our current body of scientific knowledge simply tells us that once we are dead, we turn into (biodegradable) junk. But it doesn't hurt to entertain ourselves with such ideas as afterlife or judgment or rewards/punishment or even more exotic concepts like hell/heaven.

In the movie Defending Your Life, almost all the action happens in the so-called Judgment City. It is supposedly a waiting area where the dead are put on "trial" and decisions are made regarding their future: back to earth or forward (no one knows what that is except that people tend to use more of their intellectual horsepower there than on earth where we use less brain power, deal with all kinds of idiotic fears, and worry too much). No wonder then that Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep actually fall in love there.

The Judgment City, which reminds me of a Florida on a beautiful day, is a place where you lose all your inhibitions and you can eat all you want without the fear of gaining weight (you are dead by the way).

Three things attracted my attention:

1. We spend way too much of our time and energy on fears (jobs, money, family, etc.) and don't have enough fun.
2. We can be at our best if we become fearless.
3. It is painful to look at your past (at the trial in Judgment City, they play videos of your life to show you how you were such a fearful person and how little brain power you used).

It is meant to be a fairly entertaining and light romantic comedy but with a serious message: Discard your fears and you might live a better life.