First of all, I'm no expert (I've only seen this film twice), yet I feel compelled to write a review as (much to my surprise) there aren't very many!
If you're a fan of "Arrested Development", you will see how the narration style (at the very least) borrows from "Real Life". If you've ever watched "Review With Forrest McNeil, there's a similar theme: "how far a man will go in his devotion to his show". Finally (and this is a bit of a stretch), but there is a very slight resemblance between Albert Brooks and Seinfeld's "George Costanza" when they're excited (even though we all know Jason Alexander originally interpreted the character as "Woody Allen-esque" only later to find out it was modelled after Larry David). Still, it's a nuance.
At any rate, this movie was quite influential (beyond the 3 first random examples that came to my head). However it did not get the acclaim it should have (for some reason). I even read a Roger Ebert review which while it does acknowledge some eternally memorable moments...still seems to miss the boat by criticizing everything outside of the concept and the first ten minutes of the film. Similarly, complaints about Albert Brooks being "too extra" fail to understand he was intentionally overwhelming.
Albert is a genius. Even the trailer for the film is highly creative and next-level ridiculous in the meta department (especially for it's time). Albert seems to have come from a very talented family. For those that don't know, Bob Einstein ("Super Dave Osborne" / "Marty Funkhauser") is his real life brother.
Anyway, this is an immediate "favourite" of mine. Hopefully more people come to recognize this extremely well-written comedy as one of the best out there.
If you're a fan of "Arrested Development", you will see how the narration style (at the very least) borrows from "Real Life". If you've ever watched "Review With Forrest McNeil, there's a similar theme: "how far a man will go in his devotion to his show". Finally (and this is a bit of a stretch), but there is a very slight resemblance between Albert Brooks and Seinfeld's "George Costanza" when they're excited (even though we all know Jason Alexander originally interpreted the character as "Woody Allen-esque" only later to find out it was modelled after Larry David). Still, it's a nuance.
At any rate, this movie was quite influential (beyond the 3 first random examples that came to my head). However it did not get the acclaim it should have (for some reason). I even read a Roger Ebert review which while it does acknowledge some eternally memorable moments...still seems to miss the boat by criticizing everything outside of the concept and the first ten minutes of the film. Similarly, complaints about Albert Brooks being "too extra" fail to understand he was intentionally overwhelming.
Albert is a genius. Even the trailer for the film is highly creative and next-level ridiculous in the meta department (especially for it's time). Albert seems to have come from a very talented family. For those that don't know, Bob Einstein ("Super Dave Osborne" / "Marty Funkhauser") is his real life brother.
Anyway, this is an immediate "favourite" of mine. Hopefully more people come to recognize this extremely well-written comedy as one of the best out there.