defending your life is an imaginative vision of the afterlife from the twisted mind of writer-director albert brooks , who also stars in the comedy . after dying in a car crash , on his birthday of all days , brooks wakes up in judgement city , a satirical rendition of purgatory where higher beings evaluate the lives of newly deceased earthlings . brooks has five days to convince two judges that he's worthy of passing on to higher plains of existence . enter rip torn as the slick lawyer who defends brooks in court against prosecutor lee grant . during his " trial , " brooks must view episodes of his life on a movie screen , and these scenes are both hysterically funny and painfully poignant . it's impossible to resist chuckling ( and cringing ) at brooks as he and torn try to explain away his cowardly behavior on earth . torn , in particular , is in vintage comic form , and he walks away with the picture . the movie also features meryl streep , appealing as the love-interest , and shirley maclaine , who pops up in a hilarious cameo . while the film is uneven , many of its gags are price less . take , for example , the food in judgement city : it's always the most delicious you've ever tasted . . . and it's also calorie-free--so chow down !
