1979 - REAL LIFE, Albert Brooks very funny/strange/intense mock documentary

Comedian and filmmaker Albert Brook's first film is about a filmmaker named "Albert Brooks" attempting to document the life of a "real family" in the city of Phoenix.

This is a film with some seriously funny and weird stuff in it.  It  anticipates the "reality TV " shows  that plague just about every cable TV network.  It's creepy and prescient how much Brooks got right about this deplorable genre of TV shows.

The film is well cast with a funny standout performance from Charles Grodin who is kind of a forgotten actor today.  Grodin's really got the pathetic upper middle class character down as he schlumps his way through Brook's ridiculous documentary.    

Real Life depends on the comedic personality of the bull**** artist "Albert Brooks" character Brooks has perfected.  Brooks is very funny but also very obnoxious and after a while it gets to be somewhat of an endurance contest to sit through this film.  A montage sequence with the family at the Phoenix zoo could have been easily dropped from the film.

Real Life is satire of American media and life at a very high level.  

99 minutes, written by Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson and Harry Shearer.