This is a movie about life! The title fits perfectly. The wife is doing her best (as most do) to keep things on an even keel, balancing home, and work while going through a scary medical crises, alone. She cannot tell her husband, because he is selfishly going through his own "age" crisis. He is a hypochondriac who refuses to believe there is nothing wrong with him, and he feels he is a failure in every part of his life. They have children who have lives and careers of their own, and are not very close personally. I get the feeling he was never close to his children, and his wife always had to run interference between him and them. I feel she would have liked to have had a much closer relationship with her children, but, with such a self centered husband, that was impossible. This movie is funny, sad, pathetic, and very,very realistic.

There are some movies you just get a good feeling about, and this (for me) is one of them. In every comment I've read here, though, no one mentioned the scene between Julie Andrews and Emma Walton, who are mother and daughter in real life and in the movie. Emma's character has just broken up with her boyfriend, and she spends the whole weekend in a bad mood until she finally breaks down crying and must be comforted by Julie's character. Lifetime channel, take note: sappy mother-daughter scenes work out best when you: 1-get real-life mother-daughter pairs and 2-let the mother (regardless of whether #1 is true or not) just speak from her heart. That's what Blake Edwards had enough sense to do, and it makes for one of the most touching mother-daughter scenes ever. Granted, Blake Edwards actually lived with these two people, so he may have had a better knowledge of their relationship and what would work, but most older actresses are mothers and could probably be capable of something similar. The rest of the film is great as well, with great performances all around, and a hilarious rambling from Jack at the beginning while he describes to Julie how his day at work went. This is the first movie that made my laugh and cry simultaniously (when Jack says he wanted to "bicycle himself to death"), and for that and the scene between Julie and Emma, watch this movie. It's way better than the box office will lead you to believe.

The part of Gillian, which Julie Andrews portrayed in "That's Life," gave me a queasy feeling: here was a character who was suffering from a possible career-threatening throat ailment. The film was made in 1986.In real life, ten years later, Andrews would be experiencing a like situation, and two years thereafter awaiting results of a throat operation with parallel consequences.This was not unlike a similar feeling I got when Elizabeth Taylor underwent her well-publicized brain operation in 1997. I vividly recalled her 1959 role of Catherine in "Suddenly Last Summer," in which the crux of that script was built around Catherine's receiving a brain operation.As fine as both of those performances were, the art vs. life aspects were equally as impressive, and unnerving.

Don't be surprised if you have never heard of "That's Life." It came and went quickly in 1988.Jack Lemmon stars as a hypochondriac who is turning 60 and believes death is just around the corner. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. His wife is Julie Andrews as a singer who awaits the results of a test to see if she has cancer. But Lemmon is so wrapped up with his troubles his fails to realize his wife may be the one actually sick.I know the description makes the film sound down and depressing. Nothing can be further from the truth!! As directed by Blake ("10," "Pink Panther") Edwards, the film is laced with comedy to relieve the tension for the audience as well as Julie Andrews.This is a film for adults. It tackles real issues in real ways. The performances are all terrific and the mixture of comedy and drama are just right. It makes the film a qualified success.