Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

I find it facinating thta Publishers Weekly wrote a bad reivew of this book...I wonder if that is because their bread and butter comes from articles kissing the behindes of the very people that this book takes to task for bad behavior?

Hollywood has been full of mean, childish hypocrites for as long as it's existed. The only reason that Lawyers, Politicians, and Used Car salesmen get a bad rap and actors don't is because none of those other folks get to constantly go on the tonight show to tell us how wonderful they are.

About time somebody writes a book that takes people to task, such as a certain Million dollar an episode actress harrassing an unpaid intern at her management company and bragging about it. This is just one of the tid-bits in this book. Hollywood can blame middle america all it wants but the real meanspirited childish homophobic etc.. behavior lies much closer to it's own doorstep.

Wow. This book is like nothing I've ever read on Hollywood, certainly not anything from Entertainment Weekly. Reading Hollywood, Interrupted was like entering a no-spin zone when it came to the headline stories we're fed on a daily basis. From Michael Jackson, to Eddie Murphy, to Courtney and Winona, we get the behind the scenes stuff that never ever makes the news reports. Then there's the stories from the mouths of Hollywood nannies that would make a child molester seem like an upright citizen, and a classic briefing on the elite Hollywood educational system called, appropriately, "Hollyweird High." Breitbart and Ebner systematically prove that the Hollywood machine is set up for failure by the nature of the upbringing of those who work there. They either wind up dead, on trial,in jail, in the loony bin or in an executive suite making creative decisions. HELLO? The creative output from Hollywood is dismal at best these days! I enjoyed every page of this book because each turn of the page led to the strengthening of the authors' argument against celebrity.

Hollywood, Interrupted is the best book on celebrity, the media and Hollywood that I have ever read. In fact, it's the only entertainment industry book ever written by true rebel outsiders from completely different political standpoints. Ebner is a left wing journalist from Venice and his co-writer (Breitbart) is a right wing Drudge guy. Yet, the authors share strong opinions about an industry that is ripe for criticism. Maybe that was putting it mildly. These authors are absolutely ruthless with their approach.

Breitbart and Ebner build a convincing argument for the sterilization of actors based on testimony direct from celebrity nannies. Then they attack religion. Egads! Are these guys fascists? Hardly. But they are politically incorrect to the extreme. And funny. The media mocks fruity faiths like Kaballah daily, but Breitbart and Ebner not only mock, they deconstruct these cults with academic expertise, with special emphasis on the most dangerous Scientology.

Spoiler: "the heterosexual Tom Cruise!"

Hollywood, Interrupted is no-holds-barred nonfiction at its best. The authors have bravely jumped right into the cribs of celebrity offspring. They have stalked the children into high school and desecrated their belief systems. Sounds awful, doesn't it? It is. I definitely sense that the writing of this book took the authors down roads they would rather not tread, but to build their case against Hollywood, they had to go to the root of the problem to help us understand why celebrities-on-trial has become a growth industry in America.

I have recommended this book to everyone on I know.

Hollywood. The home of swimming pools and movie stars, of silicone and botox, of power lunches and big money deals. It's a warm, sunny place inhabited by the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Everybody is a friend in Tinseltown, always willing to lend a helping hand to his or her fellow man (or woman) with no expectation of a favor in return. I get the warm and fuzzies just thinking about how wonderful life must be in Southern California, how much better a place like Los Angeles is than boring old Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, or virtually any other lame state in the country. Heck, the people who live in Hollywood, the people we see on television every day in movies and television shows, are obviously a cut above the rest of us. How can this not be so? All you need to do is spend a few hours a day with the television set and you rapidly learn these glamorous creatures are more beautiful, smarter, savvier, and more fashionable than the yucks who live in fly over country. Moreover, celebrities possess a greater capacity for truly caring about humanity than the rest of us do. Media stars care so much about the travails of life that they don't hesitate to use their money and influence to instruct us in the finer arts of raising children, waging war, and a host of other bread and butter issues the general populace knows nothing about. Every day when I wake up the first thing I do is thank my lucky stars I have such dedicated souls looking after my life.

Yeah right.

"Hollywood, Interrupted," written La-La Land watchers Mark Ebner and Andrew Breitbart, attempts to reveal what often goes on in Hollyweird behind the megawatt smiles and popping flashbulbs. The picture painted in this sometimes gossipy, sometimes tabloidish, but usually serious book is not a pretty one. It is also not a picture anyone remotely familiar with the garbage culture of Tinseltown should be surprised to read about. The two authors cite the usual sick suspects in their compelling examination of why celebrity culture simply must go away for good. Chapters examine the weird behaviors of Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Roman Polanski, Courtney Love (oh dear), Winona Ryder, River Phoenix, Nick Nolte, and dozens of other celebrities both major and minor. "Hollywood, Interrupted" delves deep into the guiding tenets of West Coast political philosophers like Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Alec Baldwin, Barbra Streisand (oh dear again), Rob Reiner, Rosie O'Donnell, and Oprah Winfrey. What emerges are portraits of people completely out of control, people living in their own fantasy world totally cut off from reality but with no idea how far out of bounds they actually are.

The reader pays a visit to such celebrity institutions as Crossroads School, a fine, upstanding academy of learning packed to the rafters with the dope-addled offspring of the rich and famous. Just wait until you get a look at the curriculum in this madhouse! The book interviews nannies that worked for celebrities and other movers and shakers, describing the emotionally vacuous existence these people live every day. Not surprisingly, materialism is the god of Hollywood, a place where objects and whatever feels good take the place of anything the rest of us consider emotionally or spiritually healthy. Dr. Feelgoods sporting prescription pads, pseudo-religious cults, and sexual promiscuity are daily activities in the mental motel called Hollywood. Unfortunately, their own horrific behavior never stops some celebrities from standing up in front of a camera to tell us how to live our lives.

It's unnecessary to go into specifics about the scurrilous activities of our social betters. Chances are you have heard about most of the bad behavior before. What the book attempts to do is move beyond the catalog of atrocities in order to figure out a way for the average citizen to break through the façade which protects these celluloid cretins. For far too long, the authors argue, the media systems have protected celebrities from themselves and from the fallout over the latest episodes of drug abuse, murder, or other similar crimes. Ebner and Breitbart claim that the Internet--with its myriad chat rooms, web pages, and bulletin boards-- offers an alternate media through which the citizens of this country can clear away the fog of propaganda pumped out by Los Angeles and New York. Celebrities and their personnel rely on good press to make money, make more money, and make even more money. Dumb statements from stars (and there is no dearth of stupid statements from the rich and famous) tend to cause a lot of problems when contract signing time comes around. In the old days, the authors assert, citizens had little means of conveying opinions instantaneously and in great numbers. A bad movie or a dumb comment can now find immediate release on the web. The recent imbroglio over the Dixie Chicks and the rapid disintegration of "Gigli," says the book, are examples of how the new media can checkmate Hollywood's nonsense.

Readers looking for yet another salacious tome on Courtney Love's latest meltdown or Michael Jackson's continuing troubles should probably renew their subscriptions to the tabloids. Some of that stuff makes its way into "Hollywood, Interrupted," but not too much or too often. When the authors deign to throw in some seedy allegations, such as a discussion on Hugh Hefner's depravity or Michael Jackson's troubles with a pornographer, the book falters. Ebner and Breitbart are at their best when they take Hollywood to task on issues such as childcare, drugs, left wing propaganda, and political correctness. The only reason celebrities exist is because they live in a country that has so much wealth that it can weather their idiocy. Tough times in the future (more terrorist attacks, for example) could very well silence these clowns forever.

I work in the film biz, and part of my job is to pay attention to books that are selling, book that are controversial, and then read them and analyze them for my boss. Obviously, HOLLYWOOD INTERRUPTED falls into this catagory, as its place on the best seller lists and the highly divided thoughts on this board show, but my boss was uncomfortable with me reading at the office, so I had to read it at home -- same as with Ezsterhas' latest! WHY? Because this book tells some dirty little (and BIG)secrets abut big stars and about the inner workings of Hollywood, and because for Hollywood, it's very "unPC." Because this book takes an unpopular (for Hollywood, though not for the overall US) point of view, it's been ignored by the major media--though IMHO if it was a little-book-that-could from the same indie pub with a more Hollywood-friendly POV, then it'd be slobbered on by everybody!

As a pro, who reads up to three books a day, I have to comment: I may not always agree with the writers, but I LOVE their tone of voice. Their deft depictions of Holywood, both the low and high life, were precise, pointed and at times poignant. And I loved playing "guess the blind items," and I'm not the only one. There's a huge buzz and some guessing games going on after work about who's who in these stories, and heaven help Courtney Love if either judge in her cases reads this before trial--she'll be swapping hygene tips with cellmate Martha Stewart!

You can read this book as pop culture, you can read it as a polemic, but you should read it, especially for the character studies.

After reading the many reviews up here (and watching the numbers of reviews multiply!) I got curious about the polarization, so many folks on this board were extremely hostile in their comments, while others seemed to like to book for various reasons.

So I read the book, or at least a couple chapters, Dr. Feel Good and Karma Chameleons, and they convinced me to invest in the hardback, and now I am very glad I made a decision based on my own mind and not a bunch of grumblers. The chapters were well written and insightful, as was the rest of the book, which I didn't put down all weekend. This book, like many bios is heavily researched and has plenty of footnotes because people like to sue, and by quoting their sources--a number of which are actual first time interviews, not just snips from articles--the authors completely support their ideas, like it or not, agree with it or not.

I laughed out loud at every reference to Tom Cruise. The auhtors made very sure that the actor wouldn't sue them, in a very, very funny way!

I found it interesting how the Los Angeles Times went after one doctor and only one doctor in the death of producer Don Simpson, like in the Winona Ryder case only one doctor out of all of the doctors she had was prosecuted. Hmmmm. That is media bias. And so is all the media ignoring this book because they are afraid of the truth. I suggest that people check this book out and really pay attention to what it has to say. It is very thought provoking and so I wonder why so many reviewers here are so down on it and warning people away from it. Not to go into a conspiracy but....

This book is a well-written, often-times hilarious expose of the ridiculous status given to celebrities. They are definitely the most dysfunctional group of narcissists in the world. From the insane "religion" of Scientology, the wacked out private schools their children attend, to the Pan Men of Hollywood, each chapter keeps the reader intrigued. My favorite chapter is AOL girl; somebody big in Hollywood should be shaking in his "shoes"! This book really
makes me glad I am just an average, normal, middle class American.
What amazes me is how the media unjustifyingly glorifies actors! Kudos to the authors for their bravery in writing this!

Reading the "reviews" from the brainwashed Leftists on here.

Celebrities are not like the rest of us and they never will be. It's cute to see them on talk shows trying to pretend to be normal, but how many of your neighbors bounce in and out of rehab, get arrested for throwing phones at hotel workers, end up the defendent in a molestation trial, overdose on drugs in front of their 10 year old daughter and expound pompously about global warming from their multi-million dollar palace or Gulfstream jet?

Not many, I would guess.

So we already know that Hollyweirds are dysfunctional. This book tells you exactly how dysfunctional and rips the facade of sanity from such normalcy-touting stars as Angelina Jolie, who has given up wearing her loved ones' blood in exchange for a trophy child and UN Ambassadorship. In her new reincarnation as Mommy and social activist, she hopes we've forgotten that she sucked face with her brother on national TV.

Another bit of dysfunction I'd forgotten about until the authors reminded me was how Harrison Ford traveled to France to present "The Pianist" director, Roman Polanski, with his Oscar. Polanski, as you may recall, cannot enter the United States because he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, plead guilty, then skipped bail and ran off to France to avoid punishment. Harrison Ford calls this pedophile and rapist his "good friend". Good old "normal" Harrison Ford.

This book is an enjoyable, absorbing read. It's funny, irreverent, well-written and rings of accuracy. It's possible that not all the tales are true, but they sure sound true. We can picture Mike Ovitz' children yelling "My Dad will fire you" at the household help. And we know that celebrity children drop like flies, either from suicide or drug overdoses.

Many of us don't care about celebrity private lives. We either think it's cool or we think they have nothing to do with us. Wrong on both counts. I will spare you my political dissertation on this subject but I will urge you to buy and read this book. Children and young adults are particularly ravenous when it comes to emulating their celebrity heroes, and it would behoove us all to know exactly who their role-models are.

After all, the young people most closely associated with these people tend to kill themselves.

I love reading about the collapse of the over inflated egos that populate Hollywood. These authors make the case against the cult of celebrity that has so many in its grip. This book is dripping with new details of the sad lives of the people so many mistakenly envy.
The chapter I call revenge of the under paid and abused employees is my fav. These nannies know all and tell all.

Odd how the positive reviews all have something different to say, and the bad ones repeat "old news and they can't write" That aside--I must say, the guys CAN WRITE! Great funny witty clever hard boiled, sarcastic. And re; "old news" If you read celebrity bios you will find many an old story repeated--see Kitty Kelly's books or Dominck Dunne's as examples of rehash with purpose. The authors use old and new information (including plenty of interviews if you look at the notes in the back) to bolster their claims. The chapter on Crossroads an exclusive private school was brutal and honest and after reading the chapter on nannies,you'll understand why the kids are so messed up. The "pan man" story is great, really the bleak aftertaste of a few moments of fame. If I were the IRS, I'd be looking into Playboy and Hefner after the story about him, and eeueeeww who knew about those weird house parties with hooker/dancers...LOVED IT!!!!