The Comedy Writer

Rating:
Summary: A trip through a lobotomized paradise
Review: I believe it was the great, beloved, and much missed Dorothy Parker who once said, "Hollywood -- its like paradise with a lobotomy." Its a thesis that has since been explored in several satirical books concerning the American film industry but never with quite the wonderfully deft combination of pathos and vulgarity as in Peter Farrelly's autobiographical novel The Comedy Writer. The book tells the story of Henry Halloran who, much like Farrelly, is an Irish Catholic from Providence, Rhode Island who, recovering from a bad break-up, impulsively moves to Los Angeles to try to recreate himself as a script writer. Within his first few weeks in L.A., Halloran's life is changed when he sees a suicidal woman standing atop a skyscraper and, despite his efforts, fails to keep the woman from jumping. He writes an article about her death that serves as both his first big break but also leads to him living with the dead woman's sister, the psychotic Colleen. Colleen is a truly fascinating character who manages to be strangely endearing, amazingly annoying, and quite frightening at the same time. As Halloran deals with his slutty, silicon-based neighbor (who basically has sex with with anything yet refuses to consider sleeping with him) and strikes up a rather bizarre friendship with a WASP actor who goes by the name Herb Silverman (out of a belief that the only way to make it in Hollywood is to pretend to be Jewish), he also gets a chance in a hilarious scene to pitch several script ideas to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld (making devastating cameos as themselves) and, in the book's most unexpectedly sincere moments, to find God.

If all of this sounds a bit heavy, it should be remembered that this book is by the same man who co-created There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber. In short, the book is filled with outrageously raw humor but somehow, the vulgarity never feels out of place. Instead, it feels like a natural extension of living in a world (Hollywood) that seems to have been created specifically to showcase the lowest common denominators of pop culture. Instead, much like his better films, Farrelly combines the most potentially offensive of comedy with the most sincere of emotions and it creates a truly touching and exhilirating ride. Its not common to find a talent that can somehow follow up humor about a misplaced sperm sample with a touching passage about his faith in God. Luckily, Peter Farrelly appears to be such a talent and The Comedy Writer is indeed the perfect vehicule for that talent. All-and-all, an amazing and touching book that will surprise those who both love and loathe the films of the Farrelly Brothers.

Rating:
Summary: Go Ahead And Read It
Review: I finally found this book at a Borders store, after looking in places like Waldenbooks. Anyway, I started it yesterday and finished it today, so already that must say SOMETHING good. It kept me involved because the characters and situations kept me interested. The plot didn't. It's really just a human story about a man's insecurities about a different place, and a deep guilt about losing someone. It's different from Peter Farrelly's movies, because it's darker, and at times, a downer. But it's not always like that, the characters are many and diverse. I especially liked Henry's agent. A big part of the book is Colleen, the psycho staying at Henry's house. She is written very well, and makes you wonder if even someone like HER would be on Howard Stern. So, all in all, you'll be happy with some of it, kind of down after the ending (it's realistic, hence not entirely happy), but overall you'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: It's really good but his reputation is hard to live up to
Review: I honestly think that Dumb and Dumber is the funniest movie EVER! Maybe that says something about myself but I think in terms of creative characters, slapstick & an outrageous situation, Farrelly and his brother create more jokes per minute then any movie only rivaled by the original Airplane movie. Having said this I enjoyed Comedy Writer and read it in one day but I was expecting something that would make me laugh out loud at every flip of the page.

I believe Henry Halloran was an exceptional lead character and when reading emotions, thoughts and dialogue concerning him I felt I was living the life of a struggling screen writer in LA. But when Henry had to deal with Colleen, a recurring love interest of Henry's, I felt like I should start a new book. Colleen was one of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered in literature and I did not find any humor in Henry's dealings with her except when he referred to "Her mound looked like ten thousand Slinkys growing out of her abdomen."

As I said I'm a fairly big Farrelly Brothers fan but this book left me feeling a little flat with all the highs and lows in the story but it had glimpses of comedic wonder and is worth reading as the commonplace dialog is easy to read and the story moves quickly.