Modern Romance

1981 Directed by Albert Brooks

Robert was madly in love with Mary. Mary was madly in love with him. Under the circumstances they did the only thing they could do... they broke up.

A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.

Albert Brooks Kathryn Harrold Bruno Kirby James L. Brooks Jane Hallaren Bob Einstein Albert Henderson Meadowlark Lemon George Kennedy Tyann Means Thelma Leeds

93 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sean Baker 2

Wanted to re-watch this wonderful film. Hasn't lost any of its charm. Great film. Bought it in HD on iTunes... although i hear the Indicator Blu-ray has great extras.
Noticed that Frederick Elmes did camera operation. You can tell there is a master behind the camera moves... they are tight and precise.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 2

94/100
Albert Brooks as an artist burrows so far into scenarios of neurosis that it goes beyond a personal feel and instead takes on a darker, universal image. Robert is a jealous, unstable individual in spite of his delusions of understanding, but he's engrossing and relatable nonetheless. We'd all be lying, or at least, *I'd* be lying, if we said we didn't identify in any way with this man. He is an exaggerated amalgamation of our fears, insecurities, and anxieties, but there's a great deal of truth in his life and in his relationship, and Modern Romance glides through a concentrated section of honest emotional weight while still making you laugh. Comedy and heartbreak go hand in hand, with sly…
Review by Sean Fennessey ★★★★★ 4

I would give a finger or two to create something this emotionally cogent.
Review by Alicia Malone ★★★★ 4

Watched in honor of Bob Einstein, the comedic actor who just passed away - he appears in a memorable scene with his brother Albert (who changed his last name to Brooks for obvious reasons!) Brooks co-wrote the film, and stars as a paranoid man who breaks up with his girlfriend... only to decide to get back together with her the following day. While his actions at times are a little stalkerish, watching this movie made me realize how much I miss these mid-budget comedies - with their simple focus on good writing and interesting characters.
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★½ 1

90/100
[originally written on my blog]
Switch the Quaaludes to soju and have Robert pursue a different-but-similar woman in the second half and this could be a Hong Sang-soo picture, though its depiction of masculine anxiety is much more overtly comedic. It also uncannily prefigures the Onion's classic story "Romantic-Comedy Behavior Gets Real-Life Man Arrested," except that Brooks understands how sheer relentlessness can in fact create a folie à deux that ensnares otherwise sensible women; the movie's greatest triumph is the sheer horror inspired by what would constitute a traditional, clichéd happy ending in a Hollywood romcom. (I do wish he'd omitted the closing title crawl, which is funny enough but detracts from the perverse power of that final "romantic"…
Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★ 2

I miss taking a hallucinogenic and saying 1-2 coherent things about Beethoven. Bruno Kirby's lil Christmas sweater and light wash jeans combo </3
Review by davidehrlich ★★★½ 2

so dark and so true, even if Albert Brooks was practically indistinguishable from Steve Guttenberg at that point. but wooooof to those closing title cards, which kiss things off with a cutesy patness that totally deflates the bitter taste of the film's sharp left turn of an ending.
Review by Kenji Fujishima ★★★★★ 4

The truly amazing thing about Albert Brooks's "Modern Romance" is how subtle its depths truly are. At one point, Mary (Kathryn Harrold) offhandedly wonders aloud to Robert (Brooks) whether his conception of romance is based more on movie fantasy than reality—but this rhetorical observation doesn't really resonate until, later on in the film, we see Robert's clingy obsessiveness pitted against Mary's careerist leanings first at that business dinner he interrupts, then in the cabin-in-the-woods finale. Maybe it's not so much that Robert lives in a fantasy world, but that his over-idealized conception of romance simply can't help but seem almost quaint in modern society. But, of course, Brooks's comic intelligence is too sharp to settle for such facile nostalgia; he's…
Review by Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

Kept thinking, 'What a hairy situation!' and then I saw Albert Brooks' back.
Review by Tony (tectactoe) ★★★★★ 7

[100]
A perfect movie. Not because it’s incomparably epic or formally ravishing or even devoid of any perceptible flaws, but for precisely the opposite reason(s): It’s a film outlined entirely by its blemished skin, modest composure, and dramatic intimacy; comely and humble in a way that skirts intimidation and pretention right from the opening diner sequence, immediately causing me to put my guard down and settle into its cozy groove with calibrated expectations, prepared to laugh occasionally, sigh once or twice, and remember it fondly as it wanes in the rearview mirror of my memory. Little did I realize, at the time, that Brooks (and the film) were lulling me into this false sense of predictably safe, rom-com pseudo-security, and…
Review by Cormac 👑 ★★★★½ 6

The virgin Wolf of Wall Street quaaludes scene VS the Chad Modern Romance quaaludes tour de force.
Holy shit. One of the most pointed and cutting tragedies masquerading as a (legitimately hilarious) comedy that I’ve ever seen. Tries on more hats than a balding 20-something, going for commentary on mental abuse and Stockholm syndrome in the neoteric relationship, meta-satire-breakdown of the classical rom-com design to wink-nudge nod at Hollywood-ian post-production hijinks. Brooks ties his achievements off with the shameless bow that is his neurotic portrayal of the man so self-loathing he can’t stand to live life by his lonesome. Woody Allen found thinking “what a simp”. Probing enough to make you rethink every relationship you’ve ever sniffed at. Alarming enough to impel you reconsider the one you’re in right now.
I say this a lot but... a new favourite.
Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★★ 8

After watching some of Albert Brooks movies. I guess I come to the right conclusion the man is a much satirical, less screwed up and much pathetic (in a good way) version of Woody Allen. Whereas the latter infamous writer-director is known for his neurotic and observational approach to life and its themes, having seen this and Real Life, they play almost like spoof movies minus the over-the-top nature that mostly comes with the films of, say, your Zucker's, Abrams', Mel Brooks, etc.
In the case of this movie, it leans more towards the self-deprication, Robert Cole is a character that was designed for you to hate. In other case scenario (and this is what I loved most about the…

Recent reviews

Review by Jacob Wilson ★★★★

So toxic
Review by Jackson Holloman ★★★

Really like this ending, and Albert brooks comedy. Funny and dark at the same time in a great way. But it’s never a “dark comedy” it’s both a comedy AND it’s dark. Some people were labeling this as “naturalistic” and I would have to disagree. It’s definitely more in the vein of an early woody Allen movie, where is neurotic anxiety shines through.
6.7/10
Review by jacobdacosta ★★★★★

Went from 4 1/2 to 5 on this rewatch. Albert Brooks just really nails how sporadic post-breakup is
Review by Luke Gilbert Bolton ★★★★★

A true one of a kind. It’s a crime that this isn’t considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Review by Ben T6000 ★★★½

Writer/Director Albert Brooks perfectly cast his manipulative neurotic piece of crap main character. The only thing I agree with Robert Cole is his edit choice in the film he’s editing in side the movie. That was a great editing decision. The director IS an idiot.
The scene with a young Bob Einstein is also fantastic.
Review by Maya ★★★

This movie should be used as an example of a toxic relationship. This was just so uncomfortable to watch.
Review by hancush ★★★★

i feel personally victimized by the scenes where he takes up jogging. still laughing at moments from this movie two months later.
Review by Steph Green ★★

all the 5 star reviews from men like "haha relatable!" seek help ❤
Review by fiona ★★★

Silly but good. Some prescient commentary here...
Review by Sashay ★★

What is so charming and beautiful about a gaslighting, manipulative asshole??? Please save your time and avoid watching this.
Review by djazz123 ★★★

Very disappointing watch I hope Albert Brooks other movies I will like more then this, better then tenet lol.
Review by emmag123 1

Sick of watching all these undeserving men in the 80s run around poppin ludes ........:....ummmm excuse fucking me we are In LATE 👏 STAGE 👏CAPITALISM👏 people we are IN 👏 A👏 PANDEMIC it’s time to open those factories back up let’s get it POPPIN