1985: Lost in America (72nd)

What else happened this year? This I do know – that Rainbow Warrior boat was sunk by French agents. Imagine that happening now!

What is the plot - in one sentence? Neurotic Los Angeles advertising exec Al Brooks gets a job offer in New York instead of the promotion he was promised, and decides instead to travel around America in a motorhome with his wife.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? She loses all their money, gambling, and they stop in some godforsaken part of Arizona, before deciding to take the job offer that he got at the beginning in New York. The written message at the end tells us that if you drive from L.A. to New York, go through Utah instead of Arizona.

What is the meaning of the title? They aren’t ever really lost in America, so we have to assume it’s a more metaphorical lost, which they are.

She looks like she's wearing a pelt made of muppets.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? No one is slapped around! The ‘wife’ of the piece is the woman who was the star of Airplane! and she’s a bit of a dope in this. She’s also covered in some of the ugliest clothes you’ve ever seen in your life. 1985 is peak hideous fashion for women, I will say.

Similarly, Al Brooks spent a lot of time worrying about a car that he was buying, and that he was looking forward to owning. Seeing one out in the flesh being driven by an obvious sex-offender spurs him to quit his road-crossing job and go back to the rat race, but the car is fucking hideous.

Also they don’t want to go to New York, they wanted to stay in L.A.. For some reason though, when he’s offered a job out there instead t’s like they offered him a job in some third world country. His reaction is insane. However, the shot of New York at the end makes it look a little dangerous, but still pretty fuckin’ cool.

Any thoughts? Al Brooks looks a lot like James Caan in this movie. You could easily cast them as brothers.

At the end of their ‘ordeal’ – we’re told that they’d only been gone for two weeks.

Would you recommend this? This was a weird, not very funny comedy. If it’s a satire of road trip movies, it’s pretty tame – they mention Easy Rider a lot, for example. There were a few really awkward bits in it – her losing all of their money to a gambling binge, and her going away with the beer-swilling guy from Bloodsport, only for him to beat up Al Brooks, being another. It wasn’t great, and neurotic Al Brooks is a difficult character to watch, it’s stressful to see him like that.

Final thoughts? Unfunny, largely uneventful road trip movies don’t happen like this anymore. I guess that’s a shame?

Angry that I'm back? Too bad, you can find the rest of this project right here baby.