LIVING OUT LOUD (1998, R, 103 Min, New Line Home Video) is a flighty gem of a film that unfortunately was overlooked by audiences. Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (The Horse Whisperer, Beloved, The Bridges of Madison County) writes and directs his first movie and does a nice, controlled job. If one were to summarize the mood of the film, it could be described as an older, more grown-up Ally McBeal. That the film is loosely based on two Anton Chekov stories adds to its quirky little intrigue.

Holly Hunter plays Judith, a divorcee who leads a sheltered, empty life in a fancy, sheltered, empty Co-op. The apartment she once shared with her cardiologist husband (Martin Donovan, The Opposite of Sex) is a place for her to sit and think. Think out loud in her head, that is. We, the audience, get to hear glimpses of Hunter’s thought processes as she races through life and the meaning of it, and the purposes, and the reasons for, and the whys, and the … woof, I need to catch my breath. Once in a while, we can’t tell if what we are seeing is real or her fantasy. In most cases, this would be a facile gimmick, but it isn’t here. It works because we like who she is and we want to see her get better. Being a single, lonely 40-something in the big cold city has put a fright into her life. A fright that she won’t ever have a life.

Another character, not too dissimilar to Hunter, is Pat (Danny DeVito.) DeVito is her doorman/elevator operator who himself is divorced with nothing much to fill his life. The meeting of the two is inevitable and sweet. They are this incompatible-looking couple who are inwardly in tune. Rounding out the cast is a wonderful performance by rap star/actress Queen Latifah (Set it Off) as a nightclub jazz singer who befriends our flawed heroes.

Hunter has always radiated a sense of presence. She is a powerhouse of an actress who is mesmerizing to watch. From the first scene in the movie when she and her husband are fighting in a restaurant, we know and like her. We want her to be okay; we want her to find someone. Or at least, find some peace and stop worrying so much about everything.

After an accidental kiss from a stranger in a bar, Hunter realizes that she has to go out there and create her post-divorce life. DeVito understands where she is coming from and is on a similar quest. Latifah lights the flame of life that the two need and, in a surreal dance-club scene, gives Hunter the tools to let go and let loose.

This film is love, friendship, and (new) life tightly wrapped up in a bundle of eccentricities.

Daniel’s lawyer (the absolutely hysterical Rip Torn, The Larry Sanders Show) tells Daniel that there’s nothing to worry about. He handles these trials every day. Daniel might move on, he might regress. That’s how it works. It’s all depending on what you’ve done with your life. On the plus side of being stuck in Judgment City, you can eat anything and not gain a pound. (Brooks makes a breakfast platter look mouth wateringly delicious.) You can also tour the Judgment City sites, including the Past Lives Pavilion where you get to see who you were in different lifetimes. (The video-host of the Pavilion is a truly inspired cameo.)

Complicating matters even more than being dead and having to sit through a trial showing your life’s blunders and faults, Julia enters the scene (accent-free Meryl Streep). Daniel meets her in a comedy club, and they hit it off from the start. That Julia’s life was almost saintly practically assures her passage onward — and upward. Daniel’s chances are not as good, so when they fall for each other, there is the possibility that their love will be short lived.

Brooks manages to create this new universe which, while not Heaven, comes close to it. We can identify with Daniel’s loserish Everyman qualities and root for him. Rounding out the cast is Lee Grant as Daniel’s take-no-prisoners prosecutor and deadpan funnyman Buck Henry as Daniel’s interim lawyer.

Brooks bypasses the mistakes that made this past year’s schmaltz-fest What Dreams May Come so unbearable. Dreams was an oversentimentalized death-fest that should not have taken itself so seriously. Humor would have helped it tremendously (especially since Williams has been on a true all comedy-free streak of late.) Defending Your Life tackles death and loss, but never in a sad way. It avoids pretentiousness as well as sentimentality and succeeds as a true romantic-comedy.