Rating: 
Summary: It¿s guys like this that make Hollywood what it is.
Review: This is a big but fast-reading book that should appeal to those who enjoy behind-the-scenes Hollywood. Joe Eszterhas writes well, although you may wonder why he has chosen to detail how self-centered, egotistical, and greedy he is. His "filmography," which I find on the internet, strongly suggests that he's basically a hack screenwriter whose claim to fame centers on making the most lucrative deals for himself regardless of who he has to bulldoze to do it. His sense of self seems invested in being the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, and he appears most threatened when he suspects that someone else may get more for a screenplay deal than he does. He may think that admitting his deficiencies will expunge his responsibility for them. Or more likely, he's just writing for money again.There's little or nothing in the book to indicate how Mr. Eszterhas became the "Hollywood Animal" that he is. He elides almost all mention of his work as a journalist and leaps from adolescence in Cleveland to his position atop the money pile in Hollywood. He seems genetically programmed to fit right in with our impression that Hollywood is peopled by self-seeking, backbiting, greedy, schlock merchants for whom making the big money deal is the first order of the day. Making movies seems to be only a byproduct of all this deal-making, and it's a tribute to the technicians that they turn out as well as they do.
Rating:
Summary: So much more than I bargained for....
Review: I will be the first to admit that I bought this book because it was touted as "THE MUST READ Hollywood TELL-ALL." Then I started reading it...and at first I decided that this book was probably not going to be one I finished because it was just about Joe and the not-so-nice (animal) man that he is in Hollywood...But then I started to get wrapped up into his childhood, being an young immigrant in the USA and his experiences growing up and an immigrant and a child whose mother suffered from mental illness.
This book is telling, but so much more than that - it is an honest view of a life lived hard and fast, in the not-so-honest world of Hollywood. You will get more information about Hollywood than you ever wanted to know...and throughout this book you will see Joe Eszterhas not as a "Hollywood person" or a writer but as a person- a person who readily admits he made mistakes in his professional and personal life...but a man who stuck up not only for himself but for the written word and his creative process. This book was so much more than I bargained for but I loved it all the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing, But Interesting
Review: This book exposes a lot of dirt about Hollywood types (and verifies there's not such thing as a "secret" that demented town.) That part was interesting. The depressing stuff was Joe's life. His father and mother suffer in camps until they escape to America, his father justifiably full of hatred for the Communists. And what does Joe do? Like many children of immigrants who escaped these horrors, they come to America and embrace the same liberal politics that their parents escaped from. That was what galled me, or maybe Joe just said he embraces Hollywood liberalism so he can write junk movies.
Yes, junk movies. F.I.S.T- The critics suckered me into watching that other union movie, "Norma Rae". They ain't suckering me into watching another union movie! BASIC INSTINCT- Quite possibly the dirtiest movie ever made. I spent 17 years in law enforcement and am no prude. This movie was mean, everyone was crazy and/or depressed and they were actually able to succeed in making sex dirty. Even in porno, the participants SEEM to like each other. You can take a bath after seeing this one, but how do you wash your brain? SHOWGIRLS- Soooooo bad, it was entertaining. If you treat it as a comedy, it's a riot. Severely bad acting 101. They even had some kind of of "Rocky Horror Show" type live event showing of Showgirls in Reno for everyone to vent at. FLASHDANCE- I really liked this one.Joe didn't write it, he just improved on the story someone else wrote, but took full credit for its being a hit. In all honesty, most of the movies Joe wrote we could all live without. And his lifestyle: Well, Joe worshipped at the altar of hard drugs, the biggest pariah to hit this nation and bring it to its knees. When (not if) Joe's kids become like the loutish and useless (Ozzy) Osbourne children and get on drugs (Dad, Mom, YOU did it, why can't I?) we'll be seeing even more of his public awareness speeches to go along with his anti-smoking campaign. Please take down the Hollywood sign and replace it with the word Hypocrites. Having second wifey kind of hovering around in the wings by being nearly a live-in house guest with first wifey's permission until the inevitable happened (you guessed it) was kind of creepy. I had the bad feeling Naomi was biding her time until she moved in for the kill.
Joe made millions, but I wouldn't trade places with him, because I didn't have to swim in the sewer of Hollywood and lose my health writing dumb movies. It's a long book, I read it in 10-20 page increments each night. Rather too depressing to take in more than that at one shot.
Rating: 
Summary: What A Great Read!
Review: Oh, so Joe is human after all? What a surprize! And an alcoholic too! (explains most, if not all of the behavior he was so lambasted for through his years in Hollywood.) A great story of an immigrant's life, a life in Hollywood, true love, redemption, and the power of life-threatening illness to change someone's life completely around. He's a terrific writer and the book reads like a novel. Say what you want about his former enormous ego and over-the-top antics -- most alcoholics with money and power act the exact same way -- but the book is great and his humility at the end proves that people can change. A must-read for Hollywood fans, writers and pop-culture fans. It's an amazing inside look at the insanity that is Hollywood. Many blessings on your continued journey, Joszi!
Rating:
Summary: Like going through his medicine cabinets...
Review: The business of writing is interesting, and his childhood memories/stories are fun; but it seems like he wrote his grown-up personal stuff in the confessional for God. It's a little much. Especially if you're a woman and sick of guys talking about carousing.
Rating: 
Summary: There is such a thing as bad press...
Review: Having worked for many years in both PR and marketing, I truly believe there is such a thing as bad press. Fifty pages into this book and I had to return it to the library where it will hopefully be buried! This book is a shining example that it doesn't always take talent to make tons of cash!
Rating:
Summary: The Adventures of Joe's Pimpli
Review: If you haven't read the book, the pimpli (private part) is referred to often. All about Joe's pimpli from childhood on.....the confused, lonely pimpli of a young immigrant child. Getting him in trouble, getting no respect. Then the more confident teen pimpli--getting some recognition finally. In Hollywood, the pimpli is out of control!!! It's a real messed-up pimpli, but thinks it deserves the attention none the less. Then finally, in the long, boring drawn out ending--the pimpli finds some peace, love & redemption. A good read overall.
Rating:
Summary: Easy reading exciting from beginning to end
Review: Having been born in Hungary I escaped during the 1956 revolution with my family. We also ended up in a refugee camp first in Austria and then Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. I can relate to Joe's life experiences on a very personal level. He ended up in Cleveland, Ohio and I ended up in Newark, New Jersey. He writes honestly and details Hollywood deals and greed. Once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. This is a good read!
Rating:
Summary: Does so much more than "dish dirt"
Review: A terrific, involving read. I guiltily bought this for the Hollywood "dirt" stuff, but ended up getting so much more. And don't let the length scare you off... the 700-plus pages fly by. Funny, moving, mischievous, fascinating, "Hollywood Animal" delivers.
Rating:
Summary: No Recent Hits, Moved to Cleveland & Got Cancer
Review: It was very humorous. I don't think much is very true as far as his feelings go. The part about saving his Nazi father from deportation by hiring a Jewish lawyer is very suspect. He, of couse, feels the reason his Nazi dad wasn't deported is because he made such great films celebrating human rights. In reality people who drink 3 bottles of wine per day along with the glasses of gin and bourbon and joints (as he admits)don't have feelings, they have hangovers. According to him, it never bothered wife nbr 2 and she thought he was great in every way. He states he was still able to come six times per day when he was around 50. You can tell he really wants this biography made into a movie. He's now a non-drinking non-smoking Christian living in the Midwest.
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