Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon -- The Case Against Celebrity

Rating:
Summary: Old Cranky Material
Review: The writers clipped and pasted old tabloid articles and threw in some gratuitous nasty comments of their own. It is as if the authors couldn't trust the readers to draw their own conclusions. The result is old - very old - Hollywood gossip along with a cranky lecture. This book could have been one long laugh - OK a very old laugh - at Hollywood, but the writers spoiled it.

Rating:
Summary: This book has got to hurt!
Review: What I love about this double barrel book is that it takes aim and fires point blank at the worst of the worst of celebrity culture. Get a clue people! We have indeed read about these freaks in People and Us and Entertainment Weekly, but those rags are constantly letting these Hollywood cretins off the hook. Not for one moment does the book let up. Sour and joyless? I don't think so. Breitbart and Ebner seem to be having the time of their lives with this both barrels blazing tome. It's war with these guys and I love it. And the next time I see Michael Jackson denying his guilt, or Courtney Love doing some skanky striptease, or Eddy Murphy playing good samaratan, I swear to god I'm going to shoot my television set!

Rating:
Summary: Two Unique Voices Critique One Twisted Town...
Review: Breitbart and Ebner are the ideal duo to chastise Hollyweird's pompous, enabled elite from left, right and center, as opposed to merely from the left (Michael Moore) or right (Michael Medved). Ebner, a self-confessed "bleeding heart" whose investigative exposes have blown the lids off of Scientology's secrets and the sinister underworld of Pit Bull Fighting, contrasts Bretibart's more conservative Drudge Report reasoning, and the result is a dynamite synergy. Sure, you'll find informative, exhaustive overviews of Hollywood's liberal-leaning politics, but readers will also unveil insightful championing of such decidedly non-conservative comedians as Andrew Dice Clay and Lenny Bruce. The very different perspectives utilized by "Hollywood Interrupted"'s team of authors are positive and negative charges powering a particularly potent battery. Desperate "talent" scraping the bottom with "pan-selling" performances at trade shows are revealed, we empathize with long-suffering "Hollywood Nannies," and the stifling scourge of political correctedness run amok is brought into focus. We all know that tinseltown is a truly troubled place. But "Hollywood Interrupted" guides us through its twisted streets like no Star Map ever could, thanks to these fresh voices and new angles.

Rating:
Summary: The Usual Cast of Characters...
Review: Yes, this book dishes and how! There is obviously no love lost between the authors and their rather demented subjects, and authors argument against celebrity is effective. Regardless, most of what I read was basically a rehash peppered with an array of dramatic descriptive diatribe, sarcasm, and fortunately, lack of fawning over thier subjects. Unfortunately, most of these stories are quite familiar to anyone who reads the entertainment pages, etc. It is plain re-hash with the usual "cast of characters," that leaves those of us who do love to read the dirt wanting more...LIKE NAMES, and perhaps a bit more information that has not already been covered or at least hinted at. As said, most of what I read I had already known. Luckily, there were a bit more details even if it was in the form of dramatic prose. Regardless, this is a fun book...fun for those of us who are sick of celebrities who are put on pedestals, yet get away with despicable acts for which the average Jo would do real time...and the section about Courtney Love is priceless! I definitely recommend this read if one is into the expose' of the seamier, more realistic side of "celebrity." It makes one want to say, "finally, some of these overpaid twits are being exposed for what they are...junkies, thugs, criminals...whatever fits." It is also sad in a way because while many idolize their particular celebrity and it is the fans who make or break these billion dollar babies, again, the authors provide a realism that causes one to lament about the lopsidedness of life. What one would not give to have a pinch of what many of these misfits have; and these misfits are not even content with what they have. I do believe that this will be an enjoyable book for many.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This book isn't going to change your life, but it's fun. I liked it more than Hollywood Animal. It's not on the same scale as The Best Awful or My Fractured Life, but it's still a good time. If you like Hollywood stuff you'll like it. If not, skip it.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking but true - finally a voice for the rest of us....
Review: OK, I admit it, I was stunned by the book. But, also there was a bit of me, that said, "At LAST" a voice for the rest of us. Those of us, who knew that most of America doesn't have the values of Hollywood, yet, feels force-fed those holly-weird values on a daily basis. I also admit the book seems a bit mean spirited at times, but hey, these authors, don't claim to be saints themselves, just reporters, for the REST of the STORY. I give this book 5 stars because it tells the truth, as we've always thought it was, but could never get too...before now.

Rating:
Summary: Funny - and depressing
Review: I gave this book 4 stars (actually, if possible I would have given it 4.5 stars), because IMO, while excellent, the authors don't give enough attention to those people - and there are still some!! - who haven't gone completely cracked. But then, one has to admit that that would probably make a pretty think chapter. The book is a true bipartisan project; Breitbart and Ebner get Hollywood's denizens coming and going from the left and right. I suspect that one thing that particularly bothers the authors, though they didn't say much about it, is the sheer IGNORANCE that so many celebrities display when they talk about matters political, social and economic - a sure sign that many celebs take the positions they do not out of any genuine convictions, but simply to get ahead and stay ahead, or to keep the invitations to the big 'do's coming in. I find that the book is particularly devastating in its exposure of how Hollywood's "tribunes of the people" treat the "little people" who work for them like cholera-infected trash, taking as a case in point the plight of the nannies and au pairs who have to try to raise the spoiled brats of the dealmakers because their parents simply aren't interested in parenting. To my way of thinking, if someone wants _real_ intelligent, informed commentary by a Hollywood liberal on the issues of the day, one can't possibly do better than to visit Roger Simon's blog (http://rogerlsimon.com/). Mr. Simon is a well-known screenwriter (author of the screenplay for "Scenes From A Mall", possibly the _last_ really funny Woody Allen movie to date), and he has more common sense in the tip of his little finger than Barbra Streisand does in her entire cranium. (One more minor caveat; Breitbart and Ebner's continual references to "the heterosexual Tom Cruise" start to get annoying after a while.)

Rating:
Summary: Instahype from Instahypocrite
Review: Heh. As a law professor at a mediocre school, I really enjoyed reading the half truths and character slags from these two tabloid journalists. This inciteful book will be required reading for my next course on law, ethics and journalism. I'm a Libertarian BTW, occasionally posturing as political/cultural kingmaker so I can hitch my over sized ego to a smart little tome like this. Enjoy it and then visit my blog, where I keep up a steady stream of breathless links to Drudge and other fine nonpartisan hacks. Heh indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Stars Gone Wild
Review: Dirty laundry and plenty of grubby undies on display in this tome with a tone. Some chapters of Hollywood Interrupted read like a surreal novel, while others deliever conservative (and at times, oddly sensible)ideology. I enjoyed Love Means Never Having to Say You're Courtney and the much lauded Pan Man chapter. The Crossroads School section makes the teens in "Traffic" look like innocent angels. Just noted, BTW, this book is now 15 on NYTimes list (new in non fiction). I can see why the authors are getting grief over this--some people just can't stand to see a different point of view or to have the truth told. Bummer. wake up and smell the scent of something rotten in Spago

Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: It's been said before, but this is a smart read about the ills of Hollywood. In days of old (say up to 1968 or so) stars hid their addiction, but now they celebrate them. This has createdf a cult of craziness, the "insanity chic" the authors write about.
BTW, since someone "broke the rules" by violating Amazon's Review Guidelines, I am gonna do the same and refer to the review below (which violates amazon guidelines (and more importantly, libel laws). FACT: Sales UP go when authors make appearences because people hear about and want to read the book. I heard one of the authors on Hannity the other day. That's how I found about Hollywood Interrupted. I am sure other people here found the book through media--reviews here mention the New York Post and the Daily Show and that it was 17 on the New York Times Best Seller List. It's really pathetic someone feels so threatened by a book that they must resort to ad hominum attacks, attacks on the authors, which have no bearing on the work.