Lost in America

Directed by Albert Brooks, Lost in America follows yuppie couple David (Brooks) and Linda (Julie Hagerty) as they decide to sell all their possessions and travel the country in an expansive Winnebago. It’s an inherently comedic setup that’s employed to pervasively watchable and sporadically hilarious effect by Brooks, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written with Monica Johnson, delivers a relatively brisk endeavor that benefits substantially from the top-tier work of its stars – with Brooks and Hagerty’s consistently compelling (and entirely convincing) efforts here perpetuating the picture’s affable, agreeable atmosphere. (Garry Marshall, cast as an increasingly incredulous casino boss, is certainly a standout among a supporting cast rife with memorable performances.) The decidedly episodic bent of the movie’s midsection ensures that certain sequences fare better than others, to be sure, and it’s ultimately clear that Lost in America is perhaps not quite as thoroughly captivating as certain other Brooks efforts (eg Defending Your Life) – with the end result is a solid piece of work that boasts its fair share of memorable and nigh indelible encounters and interludes (eg David’s “nest egg” tirade, the couple’s disastrous Las Vegas sojourn, etc, etc).

*** out of ****