Albert Brooks directs himself, Charles Grodin and Frances Lee McCain in a mockumentary about a year in the life of an average American family warped by the constant attention of the camera crew and Brooks desire to make a film better than fiction.

For the first hour Real Life is a playful and prescient satire on filmmaking, star ego and family life. The cringe worthy 30 year old fake footage of a family falling apart proved accurate to the form that we now witness in an endless cycle on daytime TV. The self harming jibes at Brooks disingenuous director, trying to marshall a family’s happiness but not able to lose the attention of the camera himself, nor sacrifice his lavish lifestyle, are often the most amusing moments. And the oft-repeated visual gag of scuba-diver-helmet-looking cameras inauspiciously  drifting into the suburban action is a consistent killer. Sadly, something clanging somehow happens to the last half hour. The humour disappears and we are left with a wrap up that is dryly bureaucratic, while also being unbelievably over the top. For what started out as a brilliantly subtle spoof, it is shame the dismount is so off key.

7