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sujata's review
2.0
He's insufferable. Just like in his career I love him in things and then I don't. He's intelligent. Funny but also so un self aware. Nothing is his fault ever in his behavior. And his left leanings has major blind spots which is not surprising. Even when he's in the right, he manages to not get that he's not perfect. I probably shouldn't have read this.
michellereadatrix's review
4.0
This was a pretty good read, but not too detailed. If you're looking for a lot of stories about what it was like to make various movies, this is not the book for you. I think Beetlejuice was all of a paragraph. He does talk about roles that held particular meaning to him, but nothing in a lot of depth.
He writes about his childhood, and politics, and a little about 30 Rock, his custody battle, and his assorted scandals. None of that really changed my opinion of him as a person, which is that he is a well-intentioned person with a bad temper that occasionally gets the best of him, and in those moments he's his own worst enemy. While his tone was not angry, anger did bleed through in certain passages.
He writes about his childhood, and politics, and a little about 30 Rock, his custody battle, and his assorted scandals. None of that really changed my opinion of him as a person, which is that he is a well-intentioned person with a bad temper that occasionally gets the best of him, and in those moments he's his own worst enemy. While his tone was not angry, anger did bleed through in certain passages.
memydogandbooks's review
3.0
Definitely more a 3.5⭐️ read for me! Interesting, honest, frank and enjoyable insight into Baldwin's life and career. I most certainly recommend having him read this to you in audible, that was a delight!
vegancleopatra's review
2.0
I'm not a huge fan of Alec Baldwin. This isn't a slight against Baldwin since I'm not really that into movies etc. I do, however, like some of his work, such as Beetlejuice. The majority of this memoir was dull, leaning towards tedious for me. It didn't help that he mentions a huge number of movies and plays that he either was interested in or performing in that I had never heard of. I'm not a big movie person, I'd generally rather do a hundred other things, but listening to people talk about movies is even worse.
The memoir is well-written and I do align with Baldwin's rants regarding politics. However, the entire book feels only partly true IMO due to the Baldwin's clear arrogance. I don't terribly mind the arrogance, it wasn't always too off-putting, but it does make it clear that someone with such arrogance is going to view/recall things differently than someone else. So I pretty much too everything he said with a grain of salt. There were a number of times in the memoir that Baldwin comes across as rather petty and small, such as when he disses Harrison Ford regarding taking over a movie franchise from him. (He criticizes Ford's size and voice etc., which was just ridiculous. Baldwin should have typed that, felt catharsis, and then deleted it. WHY would you include such pettiness?)
Overall, you may enjoy this much more if you are a big Baldwin and/or movie fan.
The memoir is well-written and I do align with Baldwin's rants regarding politics. However, the entire book feels only partly true IMO due to the Baldwin's clear arrogance. I don't terribly mind the arrogance, it wasn't always too off-putting, but it does make it clear that someone with such arrogance is going to view/recall things differently than someone else. So I pretty much too everything he said with a grain of salt. There were a number of times in the memoir that Baldwin comes across as rather petty and small, such as when he disses Harrison Ford regarding taking over a movie franchise from him. (He criticizes Ford's size and voice etc., which was just ridiculous. Baldwin should have typed that, felt catharsis, and then deleted it. WHY would you include such pettiness?)
Overall, you may enjoy this much more if you are a big Baldwin and/or movie fan.
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