Customer Reviews

I'm Chevy Chase . . . and You're Not

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This was easily the worst bio I have ever read. Let me save you the time and money before you buy. Chevy was abused as a child and had a horrible mother, otherwise he is really a great, sweet, talented, strong and good looking guy (his "Cary Grant" looks are well covered in the book). I have enjoyed most of his movies and grew up on SNL but this book does little to help you understand the real Chevy vs. what you hear from his SNL castmates and others. It is a fluff piece for Chevy written by a lightweight biographer, I'm sorry to say. The book contains, literally, pages and pages of scripts written by Chevy or lines from his movies (that any fan well recalls), as well as full reviews (mostly positive) from various movie and TV critics. She also includes several paragraphs of internet based reviews by FANS about how great some of his awful movies (as Chase admits) really are. Pretty pathetic and boring filler that struck me as something a high schooler might do to fill pages for a school assigment.

If you are interested in Chevy, SNL and that era of comedy, I can suggest "Live From New York" as it was far more insightful and honest than this fluff book.

Clearly, a great book about Chevy Chase is possible. A show business icon with a fascinating personal and professional history is the subject here, after all. But the book is marred by organizational problems and flat, unsophisticated writing which is nearly juvenile. Perhaps most importantly, there's little or no evidence of an author who took a critical approach. I have no reason to think Chevy is lying to her, but there's nothing here to suggest that she tried to balance Chevy's account with those of other principals in the story.

This is one of those books that makes me wonder if there was an editor involved at all.

This is not easy for me to write, since I love Chevy's movies and TV stuff, but I really feel that this autobiography was very self-serving. Every chapter leaves you feeling as if Chevy paid handsomely for the author to portray him a certain way. I'm not saying that he isn't exactly the way the book leads you to believe, as I've never met the man...but this account of Chevy's life paints him as almost saint-like...like he is so far above everyone else in Hollywood--morally, ethically, and intellectually. As he was one of my idols growing up, I can only hope that this book accurately reflects the person that Chevy is...but it just seems to good to be true.

As for the book itself, I found the writing to be a little disjointed. The author combines sentences within paragraphs that seem to have little to do with each other. She also included lengthy descriptions for each movie that was being discussed, which I guess would be necessary if you've never seen his movies, but these descriptions were duplicated at the end of the book in an appendix of sorts. The book did provide an accurate timeline of Chevy's life and the events that shaped it...I just wish the author had delved a little deeper into some things, and gave us a little less info on some others.

Overall, I thought the book was just ok. I really, really wanted to like this book more than I did, but in the end, it is what it is--a very average, somewhat entertaining account of an actor who, for me, is one of the funniest comedians alive today.

I'm genuinely sorry to have to say how bad this book is, because I'm interested in Chase and a fan of his best work. I'd been hoping for a while that someone would write a really wonderful biography of him...but this isn't it.

I emphatically don't mean that I wanted a smear job; I wanted a biography that is honest but critical where criticism is warranted. This book could almost be a satire of authorized biographies; it comes off as self-serving with many glaring omissions.

Why, for instance, is there no discussion whatsoever of his fractious but deep friendship with Michael O'Donoghue, Chase's fellow Saturday Night Live writer and sometime cast member?

Books about SNL and Chase's friends and colleagues there, as well as some of his interviews, certainly suggest that a great book could be written. He has implied at times an understanding of his own bad choices, both professional and personal.

He's suggested something of the man behind his laconic screen persona, but habitually kept himself mostly private. This is certainly his right. But private men probably shouldn't authorize biographies.

This book does give us one big piece of the puzzle-that's why it gets two stars instead of one. Chase was terribly abused physically by his parents in childhood. This has affected his whole life.

This might seem to explain at least some of the bizarre, verbally abusive behavior recorded in one or two of those other books. But this one never makes the connection, because that behavior is never mentioned, not even to give Chase's side.

The remainder of the book is unbalanced by appallingly sloppy writing. Just to name one thing, the author can't even get the plot of Caddyshack, arguably Chase's most classic film, right.

I was surprised, because I thought I remembered finding the author's book about Dudley Moore to be insightful. But, I realized just before writing this review, I had confused her book with Barbra Paskin's.

My bad. And I paid the price.

This is a real good book. I read it in 2 sittings, but I am a huge Chevy fan so that's not surprising. I would have liked a little more stuff about his movies (some, like Deal of the Century and Dirty Work arent even mentioned, and many others are only the focus of a paragraph or two, hence the 4 stars instead of 5 stars) but otherwise this is a treasure trove of information. You hear his side of a lot of incidents that are well known (such as the fight with Bill Murray on SNL), and some really great stories about Ford and Clinton. I know he has a reputation as being difficult but to hear from him and from colleagues who have nothing to gain from praising him gives a new perspective on that stigma. Both his fans and his detractors would do well to read the book. And then re-watch Fletch.

I have read over half this book and it has taken me forever. There is very little information. As pointed out in other reviews, it sounds like it was written as a PR piece. "Seems Like Old Times" and "Fletch" are two of my favorite movies and there is almost nothing on these. Skip this book unless you have to meet Chevy and need something to say to kiss up to him.

This was a long tribute, rather than a biography, and was so transparent that it became great fun reading between the lines toward the middle and right to the end.

The beginning of the story was distinctly not fun. The tales of abuse were strangely, lightly written, as if it the subject was so uncomfortable she just had to get this done with so she could get on to the successes. Which were also strangely, lightly written.

But I enjoyed it, in a way. The author clearly adores her subject. It was like a 12 year old girl saying, "Don't pick on my big brother. You just don't understand!" It was somehow sweet to see how events were so illogically interpreted in his favor. He didn't _want_ the coke, Redd Foxx made him take it.

One reviewer said that this could have been a great book, and I agree. Chevy's life story has so many wonderful elements: the sad beginning, the rise to stardom, the triumph over drugs and ultimate happy ending. And I feel the comparison with Cary Grant is apt: both were tall and handsome, much better actors than many of the movies they were in, and at least for years, messed up personally. But this story comes off as so much fake sweetener. Whether it's the author's fault or Chevy's, the fact is that a critical look at his life was not taken. The author seems unaware that it is possible to be compassionate and also be honest.

Some years from now, this book may be the basis of a real biography.

Read it in 3 sittings. Im 36 (born in 1972) and remember Chevy on SNL and watching him later on VHS tapes. Have every line memorized in Caddyshack, Fletch and Vacation. This book simply gives you a window into a guy who is more complex than we all think. I appreciate his humor and style more now than before. If you like or love Chevy (or physical comedy for that matter) - buy this book. Will not disapoint.

I have read both the hardcover and the new and revised paperback version of "I'm Chevy Chase...And You're Not." This is an excellent book which gives the reader a fascinating portrait of the subject, showing how Chevy Chase's early years influenced his life and career as an adult, and how he maintained his values despite dealing with the worst aspects of Hollywood.

The paperback edition covers his more recent films, as well as Chase's emotional return to the set of SNL's "Weekend Update," in one episode as Senior Political Correspondent.

People seem either to love or hate Chevy Chase. Readers of this book will understand him. I felt I knew his personality and struggles after reading this book, and I was very impressed with his honesty, and the skill of the author in helping his story to be told without getting in the way.

I have been a Chevy Chase fan since the first movie Foul Play, before this, it was SNL. I used to sneak and watch them after my parent were in bed. I find this book fascinating and I have nothing but more respect for him and extreme happiness for him for accomplishing what he has seemingly always wanted, a family and to be a father. I enjoyed the book very much and I highly recommend it to any true Chevy Chase fan.