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This was an excellent and funny non fiction read about movies that were popular in the 1980's - late 2010's. It was poignant and thought provoking and full of relevant critiques that really make you think. Excellent 5 Stars. 5 points for team minister mash #Scarathlon #TeamMonsterMash

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After Gina Frangello‘s memoir I needed a book that set an exact opposite tone. This worked! I snort-laughed my way through the audio of this, often while on a walk through town where I must have looked to passing cars like a open-mouthed laughing lunatic NOT SORRY. I do suggest just a chapter or two and then take a break, though. Too many at once and the commentary loses its luster a little. STILL: A winner! Five giggling stars. 😁😁😆😁😁

We're watching one of the classic films my kids first learned about from Lindy West in the tagged book. We listened to the audiobook together about a year ago, and my kids still talk about it. My son says it's one of the greatest things he's ever heard. He's not quite 13, so he's heard a limited number of things, but it's still notable that West's book stood out to him.

A completely irreverent look at classic movies. Definitely listen to the audio if possible. There were moments that I was laughing so hard I seriously cried. From Harry Potter to Love Actually, West pulls no punches. Many of the movies she picks apart are my favorites, but it‘s still so fun to listen to her criticisms. Every movie is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 Fugitive DVDs because it‘s her perfect movie. I needed to laugh & this did the trick!

16/150 First off, The Fugitive isn't the greatest movie ever. EVERYONE know that Raiders of the Lost Ark is THE greatest movie that all others should be judged against.
That being said, I found West to be insanely funny, and her reviews were the perfect blend of humor and biting social commentary. 4📽📽📽📽
16th book for #Jumpstart2022 @Lizpixie @Clwojick 31st book for #WinterCosy @PuddleJumper

This author is really freaking funny. She watches old movies through a new adult lens and gives commentary. It's hilarious but she didn't exactly roast any of my favorites. Basically, The Fugitive is the best movie ever and she rates others against it. Love, Actually doesn't fare too well.

Neither of these audiobooks did it for me on the drive up to VT this past weekend.

I liked the first story presented in Bedtime Stories for Cynics but REALLY disliked the next handful. I maybe would‘ve enjoyed the Lindy West title more if I‘d seen more of the films reviewed. I think I‘ll appreciate her insights more in newsletter form; F me & my bougie, preconceived, limited notions but her writing felt way too casual for a whole-ass book. 🤷‍♀️

Lindy West has a new newsletter!

Subscribe here:
https://buttnews.substack.com/p/coming-soon?showWelcome=true

She‘s simply the best. 🍑

I absolutely ADORE this book!! Like Lindy, I am that friend who will point out plot holes or what is silly about your favorite movie. But I will also celebrate what makes it great, too! I think it helps that she and I are about the same age with similar cultural touchstones. (80s kids/90s teens) I‘d love it if she did this same thing with TV episodes!!

My favorite reviews are of American Pie, Reality Bites, Garden State, and Love, Actually.

Also started this one by Lindy West. A collection of essays where Lindy “rewatch[es] successful movies from the past to see how they hold up to our shifting modern sensibilities.” She rates movies on a scale of 1 out of 10 dvds of The Fugitive, whereas The Fugitive is rated 13 dvds out of 10 dvds of The Fugitive.

Lindy West is the first person I would want to get a drink with at a boring cocktail party.

Snarky plot synopsis of 23 movies, only a few of which I have seen, but most am generally familiar with. The title essay is quite good (also the only movie with which I am very familiar), making some excellent points. Her exclamatory humor is not quite mine, so I found this an only mildly amusing, but good as a palate cleanser, between other books read.

3⭐

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? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!?!

A love letter and break up note to well known movies and do they stand the test of time. Hilarious read.

Mostly it's snarky summaries of plots from blockbuster movies of the 80's and 90's and early 00's with occasional observations about things that haven't aged well. I guess the reviews began as blog posts, and there are some terrific blog posts in here, but at book length they become wearing. Don't expect great insights into the films, and take it in measured doses and it's pretty funny.

Something made me choose to start this today, and I‘m glad, because I just took a walk around the neighborhood and laughed at the first two chapters. I happen to love Love, Actually - even though it‘s problematic. I can admit that everything she mentioned is fair.

Except going after Emma Thompson, because she is a treasure and I still haven‘t forgiven Alan Rickman.

Such a funny, engaging book! I don't usually read humorous books; however, I heard Lindy West is a great writer. I laughed throughout the whole thing. She makes many valid points about the movies she reviews. I especially love her reviews on Twilight, Love Actually, and Top Gun. I would love to see more movie reviews from her. Her reviews explain the movies more realistically than most other reviews. I look forward to reading more by her!

A raving pick! I looooved it! I‘m known for my deep love and questionable taste in movies and this felt like it was made for me. I want to reach out and tell Lindy West that I too prefer Can‘t Hardly Wait to American Pie! I too think Troy is Reality Bites is just the worst but I love him and despite knowing better, love that they end up together. The low point of this (for me) was Harry Potter but I‘m just not a huge fan. Otherwise, adored it.

Lindy West is just perfect. I was not feeling highly motivated to start this one, but needed a break from tales of murder and thank goodness, I might have found the one person in the world who loves The Fugitive as much as I do. Be still, my movie loving heart ❤️

Convinced my daughter to do #bookspinbingo! We‘re a day late but having fun making and decorating our bingo cards.

I have been saving this audiobook for months, waiting for a time when I really needed snarky movie reviews. The classic is, of course, the title review, which I first read on Jezebel while recovering from watching Love, Actually. West spends a lot of time on 90s movies, which makes this an excellent book for younger GenXers and older Millennials. Not every review is a slam dunk, but I laughed out loud several times and laughed until I cried once.

Very disappointed with this one. Only made it 30% to finish the Harry Potter review. I was expecting more than just movie plot summaries with snarky comments thrown in. The intro explains the essays were adapted from Jezebel blog posts, which makes a lot of sense given all of the internet speak. That style might work in short form weekly blogs, but not as a cohesive book. The first piece on The Fugitive was the best of the ones I read.

It‘s rainy and nasty here, so after I finished work, I just sat back and read this. West‘s snarky take on 90s movies was a lot of fun even if I didn‘t get some of the jokes. She uses internet slang and acronyms; I am the kind of person who never used the slang that was popular when I was a teenager, so I had to look up quite a few things. Some things were hilarious — like the way she describes the only way to have made a video call in the 90s.

4🌟West objectively, hilariously and accurately critiques several movies I grew up watching. Seeing how they stand up nowadays. Most of these are movies that shaped pop culture for years. There were things that I had noticed prior and other things she opened my eyes to. She calls out misogyny, racism, and just general nonsense and bullshit, I loved it!! This is one of thoes books I found myself giggling and laughing out loud! #bookreview

I know this has been a love it or loathe it book on litsy, but I would watch a movie with Lindy any day! I thought it might good to read after finishing Rose McGowan‘s memoir this morning. I agree with Lindy that movies like American Pie kind of validate incels and that Love, Actually was definitely a rom com written by a man for women that actually objectifies women.

A good #reread while I have March Madness on without sound. #audiobook

review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#shit-actually

You should listen to this book on audio. It‘s read by the author and I laughed so hard I cried through most of the book. West critiques movies - points out plot holes, inconsistencies and misogynistic moments. I had seen most of the movies, but even the critiques of movies I hadn‘t seen were fun to listen to.

You can love bad movies - Lindy West won't judge you, she'll even join you in some cases. But you should appreciate just how full of sh🎬t they are. Sometimes for benign suspension of disbelief reasons but often due to massive amounts of misogyny and fat-shaming. She had me cracking up at some of her plot descriptions of popular Hollywood blockbusters. I didn't enjoy the millennial-speak shtick which was a little grating but otherwise I was a fan.

This was my #doublespin for February, and I just couldn‘t get into it. The premise sounded promising: a journalist writing reviews and seeing if older movies could stand up to changing times. But the irreverent tone, which I do enjoy if done right, was just jarring and there never seemed to be a point to it. Excessive swearing added to my displeasure. Skipping ahead to chapters about movies I had seen didn‘t even help. DNF
@TheAromaofBooks

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/shit-actually-the-definitive-100-o...

This is exactly the book I needed to kick off the month. I listened to this one and found myself laughing through the entire thing. I love West‘s writing and it was fun to read something relaxed and light-hearted from her.

I loved that she rated each movie using an “X/10 DVDs of The Fugitive” scale. I felt like I held my breath through the entire chapter about Jurassic Park, hoping it‘d score high. I wasn‘t disappointed 🦖

Oh, how I loved this. Multiple times, I had to put it down because I was laughing so hard I couldn‘t see the pages clearly anymore. It was like one of those conversations with a friend where everything is funny.

Laugh out loud as usual

Today's book stack - - mostly things that need to be sorted back onto shelves, my current read is somewhere behind the stack. tagged book is Lucas' christmas eve book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Who knew that pitch perfect snarky movie reviews of films from the 90‘s and oughts would be the pandemic comfort read I needed right now?!

12-20-20: My 110th finished book of 2020! I wanted this to be so much funnier than it was. Lindy West rewatches a bunch of iconic movies like Titanic, Love, Actually, Forrest Gump and Shawshank Redemption, to name a few. Her essays are rants about all that is wrong with each of these movies and they come off as more angry than hilarious. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #shitactually #lindywest 👍🏼📖#️⃣1️⃣1️⃣0️⃣

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/YmN9wblKT6A

Enjoy!

This is a very simple book—snarky regurgitations of 90s move plots. It‘s uneven and some of it tries to hard, but there were some that I enjoyed so much I had to give this a pick. I‘ve never had any desire to see The Notebook (because the idea of it to me is 🤮) and I was nearly crying with laughter in that chapter. Not comparable to her other writing, as this is just lighthearted entertainment.

#doublespin

I think it was a bad idea to try to listen to two of Lindy‘s books back to back.

Also it‘s probably me... I think someone who remembers movie details more than me might enjoy this more? Unless I really love a movie the content flies out of my head as soon as it‘s over.

This book is nothing but her being a very very critical movie critic. I‘m sure that‘ll be fun for lots of people. Just not for me.

Hilarious! Highly recommend

⭐️/5
I BARELY got through this. I quit before the very end. Not my cup of tea. Redundant, Repetitive, and just missed the Mark for me. I know many people love West‘s work—but I can‘t call myself as a fan.

I love Lindy West, but her schtick here gets really old when you listen to many, many chapters in a row. However, her Love, Actually essay remains one of the greatest things I have ever read (see: "cock-blocktopus"). Cannot pan, but will say if you're on the fence, just read the original article at Jezebel and be done with it:
https://jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485...

This was...fine. It was an easy way to pass the time today but I‘ve definitely aged out of the “ZOMG! ALL CAPS TEXT SPEAK” and that grated after awhile. And there are a handful of these movies I‘ve never seen or saw once 25 years ago so those essays were a miss.

I 100% agree that The Fugitive is the best movie ever made (with Speed a close second) 😉. I love Lindy West‘s humor and I her cultural commentary is spot on. I can see how this is a book that you either love or hate, but I definitely fell on the “love it” side.

Do you enjoy Lindy West‘s variety of sarcastic humor? Do you love older movies? Are you looking for a little escape and a lot of laughs? This might be the book for you... or it might not?

My full review is on my blog: http://sprainedbrain.blog/2020/11/02/review-shit-actually-by-lindy-west/

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I absolutely did not need to read this, but it was enjoyable. Lindy West always delivers.