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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too Harsh and Mean-Spirited to Be Funny, January 29, 2002
This review is from: Movie Stars Do the Dumbest Things (Paperback)
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good celebrity bashing as much as the next person, but this book really seemed to cross the line from amusingly snarky to cruel, scathing, and downright mean-spirited. Although many of these listings might be considered embarrassing on a more political level (such as the lavish hotel accomodations enjoyed by the likes of Whoopie Goldberg during highly-publicized appearances at benefits for the starving and homeless), they aren't exactly the sort of thing you sit around chuckling to yourself about in your free time. At times the gleefully mocking tone of the book seems wildly inappropriate, such as the entry on Judy Garland, which chronicles, in loving detail, the star's decades-long battle with depression and drug addiction (a battle she ultimately lost). The authors remain cheerfully oblivious to the tragic implications of Judy's constant pill-popping and suicide attempts, however, instead maintaining their juvenile finger-pointing approach ("Judy Garland tried to kill herself twenty-three times in ten years--boy, is she ever DUMB!" Even more absurd is the entry on the infamous sleaze queen Divine, whose whole life REVOLVED around being crazy and disgusting. (Did you know that Divine ate a real dog turd at the end of "Pink Flamingos"? So did everyone else.) In fact many of the "humorous" tidbits in this section were taken directly from John Waters' book "Shock Value," though in their original form they were somehow much more entertaining. Once again, I want to clarify that many of these books which make fun of celebrities are quite amusing in my opinion, it's just that the people who wrote this one seem to have some attitude problems, or simply lack an understanding of what is truly funny. I'm aware that famous people make mistakes--that fact, in and of itself, does not constitute humor.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious!, January 1, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Movie Stars Do the Dumbest Things (Paperback)
This is truly a funny book. If you like gossip and Hollywood insight, then you will love this book. I simply could not put this book down. Just hope your favorite movie star is not in this book, because you will be amazed at the dumb lengths a movie star would go through!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dumbest things (sometimes), January 25, 2005
This review is from: Movie Stars Do the Dumbest Things (Paperback)
The flip side of celebrity worship is celebrity mockery. And Margaret Moser obviously has worshipful tendencies in "Movie Stars Do The Dumbest Things." From embarrassing anecdotes to idiotic lines ("My butt fascinates me"), she chronicles quite a few moments that some major stars would love to forget.
Woody Allen's bizarre psychological quirks (and marriage to his stepdaughter). Sean Penn's bad behavior. And Jane Fonda informing the world that the Vietnam War was only because the US wanted Vietnam's "tung and tinsten," which do not technically exist. Sure, everyone does incredibly stupid things, but a celebrity blunder is forever.
And Moser does do a good job of collecting various embarrassing tantrums, hypocrises, demands, sexual indescretions (Peter Lawford's "Acujack") and airheaded remarks (Hugh Grant once said that then-lover Elizabeth Hurley was like his sister, because "incest is quite titillating"). She also devotes a section to young actors , and section devoted to dumb things directors do -- for example, all of Oliver Stone's anecdotes involve drugs.
That isn't to say that it's perfect -- eating disorders and the tragic Judy Garland's suicide attempts are not "dumb things," for example. And Sophia Loren being mobbed when she bought bras really wasn't her fault. While Moser's irreverent tone is what makes the book so funny, the book does need to find the fine line of sensitivity. (That, and what's with the topless pictures?)
However, there are far more entertaining anecdotes than there are duds, and no one is safe from Moser's razor. Classic actors like Jean Harlow, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Elvis Presley are given the same treatment as Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore and Eddie Murphy. And that lack of favoritism makes it even more amusing.
For a few laughs at the expense of the sometimes-inexplicably famous, this is a good (sometimes flawed) light read. Think of it as tabloid tidbits, compressed into one book.
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