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Rating: 
Summary: The flip side
Review: ...the flip side of the movie business, that is, this memoir of a former agent and producer. The 300 films he mentioned are scattered throughout in italics. Mr. Medavoy writes extensively of the process of producing movies. He makes sures we know he is responsible for the success of many motion pictures. He also admits no one knows why one film which shows every indication of becoming a smash will fail, while another will come out of nowhere and become a hit. OK, but there is no gossip. There are no entertaining anecdotes. There is nothing interesting, in fact nothing to interest the average reader who is interested in Hollywood. I said the average reader. These pages and pages of numbers and formulas and musings about box-office openings are no doubt fascinating to accountants and marketing people. I picture them swooning over this book. If books could be compared on a scale with movies, one might say "You're Only As Good.." is the "Citizen Kane" of number crunchers.
Rating: 
Summary: Substantial Look at the Movie Business
Review: Hollywood memoirs tend to be annoyingly content free, so this lengthy insider tome from agent, studio chief, and producer Medavoy comes as a pleasant surprise. Ego reasonably in check (at least by studio chief standards) Medavoy (and writer Young) go into substantial detail on how movies get made, why they usually don't, and why when they do they're often dreadful.Medavoy's perspective is particularly interesting because he's played an active role in the industry since the late 1960's, and so can offer a ringside account of how the business has changed from the counter-culture, director-driven 70's Hollywood to the 6,000 screen opening, watch-the-foreign-grosses film biz of today. No, you won't get the juicy gossip of Robert Evans' and Peter Biskind's Hollywood histories here, but you will find an enjoyable account of how movies are put together.
Rating: 
Summary: Pompus
Review: I did not like this book. It was bloated. The author thinks he's Bill Clinton. He's just some guy who made a little money. I mean little because in the world he so dearly loves he is nothing but a secretary. I would love to hear from Sherry Lansing or Harvey Weinstein but Mike Medavoy. A joker.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking
Review: I didn't like this book. It was bloated and uninsightful. The writing was not particularly good either. This will end up in the $1 book bin.
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