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Real Life

Real Life

Comedy · 1979

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

Movie details

Real Life

“An American Comedy”

1979 Comedy 1h 39m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Real Life?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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West Is West

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The Big Wedding

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To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long-divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin are forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative Catholic biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future - and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.

The Three Stooges

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Albert Brooks

Written by

Albert Brooks · Monica Johnson · Harry Shearer

Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks

Charles Grodin

Charles Grodin

Warren Yeager

Frances Lee McCain

Frances Lee McCain

Jeannette Yeager

L

Lisa Urette

Lisa Yeager

R

Robert Stirrat

Eric Yeager

M

Matthew Tobin

Dr. Howard Hill

J.A. Preston

J.A. Preston

Dr. Ted Cleary

Court is in session

Put Real Life on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.