Sometimes there is a scene in a movie that is so good that the rest of the movie pales in comparison. I always felt that Albert Brook’s second movie, “Modern Romance” never recovered after this sequence, where Albert is high on ‘ludes. Enjoy (Mr. Popularity, Mr. Popularity):
The rest of the movie is fun–and we’ll feature another good scene shortly–but this one takes the cake.
I love Albert Brooks, and not to poop in his parakeet cage, but this scene always makes me cringe a little, and I think it goes on way too long.
It's not Brooks' fault. I just don't like scenes in which people act high or drunk. It's one of my peeves. As far as acting goes (admittedly I'm far from an expert on the subject) it seems like cheating to me. The way I see it: pretty much anybody can act high or drunk, and nobody does it convincingly, or not annoyingly.
As I write this, I think of Cheech & Chong, True Romance, and a few other movies that have funny stoner scenes. Maybe they just work better in more screwball type movies, or maybe they don't bother me as much because they're shorter than this scene from Modern Romance. I don't know, man, this scene, and countless others like it bug me for whatever reason.
Brooks is definitely one of my comedic heroes - when he's not doing 'lude scenes.
Love this scene, but I can't agree that the movie suffers afterwards. I think it may be my favorite of all his films. (That said, it's been a while.)
The movie within the movie with George Kennedy always kills me. "I think I know the code." "YOU KNOW NOTHING!"
And James L. Brooks himself as the dopey director. "I think you saved the picture."
My fav is: Defending Your Life.
Great concept, tremendous cast and.... Meryl Streep!
However, the line that sticks with me is...
"You lost the nestegg? YOU LOST THE NESTEGG???"
3) Except that line is from "Lost in America."