On his 40th birthday, ad executive Daniel Miller bought himself a BMW to celebrate the happiest day of his life.
Then, in a 1990s version of distracted driving, Miller took his eyes off of the road to grab a loose CD and ended up in a fatal head-on collision with a bus.
That accident in the opening scene of the 1991 film “Defending Your Life” lands Miller, played by writer and director Albert Brooks, in “Judgment City,” a resort hotel version of purgatory.
In a scene that foreshadows today’s culture of surveillance — where a camera appears to always be watching us — the trial features a highlight reel of Miller’s life in which he has to face up to his past decisions, both good and bad.