You know what? I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was so hilarious! I knew Lindy West was a funny author, but I did not know that she would literally have me laughing out loud from her critique of movies I had not even seen. Yes, she is THAT good. I really enjoyed this and I will continue to read and love her books. Her critique of Twilight is hands down one of the funniest things I have read all year. I really loved it. What a fun read!

Once upon a time, Lindy West was the movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger before moving on to write about more serious, political topics. Locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic as she was finishing this book of essays intended to reconsider the movies she loved as a younger viewer, and increasingly disturbed by the state of America’s political situation, West “started to find a strange comfort in the task of making this book for you and thinking about it in your hands and homes — this silly, inconsequential, ornery, joyful, obsessive, rude, and extremely stupid book. More than anything I want this book to make you feel like you were at a movie night with your best friend (me).” This book is silly and ornery, and really very funny; it’s exactly what I hoped for without knowing how much I needed it. I’m not a huge fan of Hollywood movies, so West’s takedown of various blockbusters was hilarious and relatable to me; and even where she brings out her feminist lens to dissect some of these movies — and especially romances, written by men for women (as in The Notebook, Titanic, or Love, Actually, from where she gets the book’s title) — she makes you think, “Yeah. Why did I ever go along with that being okay?” I laughed out loud reading several of these essays and Lindy West made me think — What more could I want?

As a book/movie fan I enjoyed this book and Lindy’s reviews of classic films. They book was humorous while still holding onto Lindy’s typical biting writing style.

This is exactly the book I didn’t know I needed. I’ve really enjoyed Lindy West’s previous books, so when I saw she was putting out a book of essays about movies, I was on board. But I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I laughed so I hard I cried more than once while reading this one. Her sense of humor won’t work for everyone, and if you’re especially defensive about movies you’ve enjoyed, maybe this won’t be for you, but for me? This felt like sitting on the couch watching movies with my best friend, which is exactly what I needed right now.

Thank you Hachette and NetGalley for the review copy.

NOTE: I received a free advanced reader's copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Snarky take-downs of movies from the 80s, 90s and 00s. The essays that are good are really good and I definitely laughed aloud a few times. A few essays went on a bit too long and I ended up skipping through the ones for movies I hadn't seen. I wish the chapter titles included the actual names of the movies so that you could go directly to the ones you want to read. What's good is that you don't need to read them all, or in order, so this is a good book to pick up when you have a bit of time and want a few laughs at the expense of your favorite films. (Some of the movies included are: Love Actually, The Notebook, Shawshank Redpemtion, American Pie, Bad Boys II, Harry Potter, Twilight, Reality Bites and Titanic, among others.)

I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I feel this writing style works better in a blogging format than in a published book. More importantly, I think this book would be funnier for someone who had seen the majority of the films included here, which I haven't, so there wasn't very much for me to take from reading this - sad, as I love Lindy West's writing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette books and Lindy West for providing me an ARC to this title. This is my first Lindy West book and will not be my last. I am about 5 years older than Lindy West, but it is apparent that we grew up enjoying (or not enjoying) the same movies. Most of the essays included in this book were about movies I have in fact seen and I found myself completely tickled with West's plot synopses and commentary. I had several laugh out loud moments and found myself reciting portions from this book aloud to my husband. I enjoyed this entire collection and really really appreciated the essays on the movies Love Actually (I can't believe people like this movie) and The Notebook. This was a great form of nostalgia but also a terrific way to reframe the sexism and misogyny prevalent in so much of our entertainment from the 90s.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this advance copy.

If you're like me and you already love Lindy West, you'll enjoy this book. If you're not familiar with her, but you want to revisit some favorite older movies with a hilarious modern lens, you'll also enjoy this book! I've already rewatched one of the movies she reviewed that was a big favorite of mine in my late teens (Rush Hour) and plan to rewatch more. I thought the prediction that Maverick from Top Gun would be at all the "reopen America" protests was an especially funny yet accurate take.

“What do we do now with beloved cultural works that don’t hold up? What do we do with the oeuvre of beloved people who fail us? Are we ‘allowed’ to like imperfect things that mean something to us?”

The mission statement of this book really had me intrigued: re-watching popular American movies to see how well they “hold up to our shifting modern sensibilities.” How much power does nostalgia hold (if any) over 21st century first-world wokeness? While conceptually I enjoyed Lindy’s work, I feel as if her writing was too frenetic and unrefined. Her excessive use of CAPITALIZATION and PUNCTUATION...??!?!?!!!... cheapened the humor, in my opinion, and a lot of the jokes felt recycled. I felt like I was reading her articles on Jezebel, not in a polished, print-publishable book. There was a whole lot of overt emphasis on the sheer ridiculousness of certain pieces of dialogue and minor plot holes, whereas I think this book would have greatly benefited from more dedication to analyzing each story’s major themes. That said though, I felt a solid undercurrent of feminist, anti-fascist, and anti-capitalist sentiments throughout the work and I think the overall criticisms of these darling media texts felt valid.

This book made me realize that I need to be Lindy West's friend! We'll drink wine and make fun of movies and TV shows (and lest we forget those omnipresent Hallmark Channel "movies" because that would be our thing), and get a kick out of our own clever selves while trying ever so hard to ignore the horrible dumpster fire the world around us has become. At least there will always be The Fugitive.
This wave of warmth (no longer talking about said dumpster fire) stemming from reading words written by a kindred spirit was around me from the opening chapter, and continued through the entire book. I laughed out loud and read various passages (mostly Harry Potter) to my partner. West is hilarious (and correct!) in her take downs, but these critiques are also done in the most loving way--we hate Twilight, but goddamn, we love Twilight!
This is the most enjoyment I've gotten out of a book this year (hell, probably years at this point) and should be required pandemic reading!
In conclusion:
Book - Awesome
Lindy West Friend Request - Pending

I received a reviewer copy of Shit, Actually by Lindy West from Hachette Books from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Lindy West writes reviews of about 30 movies, she covers movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Face-Off, and Twilight and watches them through 2020 eyes.

What I Loved: Look, admittedly Lindy West could write a review of the telephone book and I'd read it because she is hilarious and always on point. This book is no different. All of the essays that covered movies I'd seen, I laughed out loud at least a couple of times. Some of my favorite ones were Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Harry Potter, and Twilight. These sarcastic essays are the perfect pairing to Covid entertainment. In fact, I might even watch the movie then read the essay, maximize your entertainment. Also, important to note because of the way West writes you can still enjoy the essays even if you never saw the movies.

What I didn’t like so much: Admittedly, my fault, some of the movies I never saw, so I didn't get as much out of this but again not West's fault.

Who Should Read It: If you love movies and mocking them then this book is for you.

General Summary: Sarcastic reviews and commentary about popular movies.

*Thank you to Net Galley and Hachette Books for the advance copy*

In Shit, Actually, Lindy West hilariously breaks down some of the most ridiculous movies to ever exist. I've read her other books and enjoyed them for different reasons. Shrill felt introspective and was relatable for me; The Witches are Coming was a giant middle finger to the patriarchy, but Shit, Actually is ROASTING 90s and 00s comedies and action movies.

I don't want to mention any of the titles she examines because I read it without visiting the table of contents and loved being surprised. Most of the movies I have seen, but now I want to see the movies that I haven't because if they're as ridiculous as she writes about they're going to be a BLAST. Well, shit, actually.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shit, Actually by Lindy West. I found myself laughing and had a few near misses with drinks coming out of my nose. After I read West’s book, I have a list of movies I’ve never seen but now MUST watch. Convinced only by her colorful commentary. Shit, Actually is a series of essays giving color commentary on a series of movies. I’m not a sports person, but I do love movies and would love to watch with her giving a play by play of movies throughout, like I’m guessing a sportscaster does? Her writing is witty, insightful and full of quotable one liners.

I had never read anything by Lindy West before, but reading "Shit, Actually" was incredibly entertaining. "Shit, Actually" is a collection of essays of West's commentary on various movies. I particularly loved the essays on Harry Potter, Twilight, and American Pie, and found the writing to be very engaging and conversational. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by West in the future!

Thank you to Hachette and NetGalley for my free e-copy for review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Lindy West is freaking brilliant! I love her and everything she writes! This is a must read all about movies!

Such a fun and funny book! I really enjoy reading Lindy West, and this is a very light and enjoyable read that also engages in light-hearted critiques of most famous contemporary films. In a book form, this can get a bit exhausting as West’s humor is often best in the short form, and her individual articles shine because of this.

Please note, I received a copy of this book thanks to Netgalley, all thoughts are my own.

I didn't hate Shit, Actually, but I also didn't love it. I was very excited when I heard this book was a thing because I love movies and I also love Lindy West's writting! I may not have enjoyed her last book, The Witches are Coming, as much as I had hoped I would but I did enjoy it enough to not even think twice about requesting this one.

I enjoyed Shit, Actually significantly better that The Witches are Coming but not even near as much as Shrill. For me, Shrill is still my favorite of her books. I love that this one is all about movies but there were a few things I had issues with.

For starters, the chapters begin to get very repetitive. Each chapter/essay is the same format or going over what the movie is and the entirety of the plot with some witty banty thrown in every now and then. This format works very well in a blog viewpoint but as a cover to cover read I was starting to get bored.

Second, I didn't know all the movies. This is completely on me and not the book, but I just didn't care at all about the chapters when I had no idea what the movie even was. This didn't happen ofter, maybe three or four chapters, but it happened enough for me to sigh and skim through thouse chapters. Along with this point there were more movies in this book that I had never seen before than there were of ones I had, including The Fugitive, which is the movie she bases her scoring on. For some of these movies I was very intruiged because it gave me a little more of a glimpse into these movies I honestly have no intention of watching!

The final thing is another me thing, and that is the fact that each chapter was basically poking fun at every movie. I mostly didn't mind it but then she started in on The Santa Clause and (while yes, valid points) I didn't connect well with that chapter because that movie is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies! it never gets old for me!!

Overall I enjoyed the heck out of this but by the end I was skimming over movies I didn't care about just to get to the next chapter sooner. I am very interested in picking this up for a reread on audiobook though! I simply adore the way Lindy West narrates her books!

One last thing, I do appreciate the way she uses the word carcass!

The escapist film essays we all need right now! Lindy writes like she’s your friend complaining about a movie over lunch, and since it’s going to be ages before we can do that, this book is the next best thing.

This was absolutely hilarious and much needed. Lindy West has written other humor books but this has to be her best yet because she gives critiques on popular movies. And in her opinion, The Fugitive is the best and the other movies she discussed are based on Fugitive DVDs. My personal favorite observations of hers had to be, even if i didn't agree with the ranking are: Titanic, Twilight, The Notebook, Forrest Gump, Top Gun, Face Off and Shawshank Redemption. I don't agree that Jurassic Park is almost good as the Fugitive because they are castly different movies. And Harry Potter is better than the Santa Clause? Phht. She ranks Shawshank the equivalent of Fugitive. I concur.

All in all in this rather hilarious, good and quick read. I really recommend it if you need a laugh.

Thanks to Netgalley, Lindy West, and Hachetta Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 10/20/20

What happens when you combine surprise wedding bands with face-switching cops and violated apple pies? This work of pure brilliance from Lindy West. 'Shit, Actually' is a collection of essays West wrote after rewatching some of the biggest movies of the past few decades. Since this book is coming out during the COVID-19 pandemic, she suggests it can be used as a substitute for all those movie nights with friends (remember those?). From 'The Fugitive' (“The Only Good Movie”) to 'The Lion King' (“What Is A Monarchy We Are Animals”) West’s laugh-out-loud commentary will keep you entertained both during and after the time of masks and toilet paper shortages.

Lindy West has a wicked sense of humor and she lets it all out in these essays. From her classic roast of Love, Actually ("Shit, Actually") to her detailed recounting of inane movie plots (including Speed and Back to the Future Part II), West had me snickering, cackling, and outright roaring with laughter. It doesn’t matter that I haven’t seen at least half the movies she profiles: most of them have become enmeshed in popular culture and her plot summaries fill in the rest. In fact, I might just go back and watch some of these gems. At the very least, I’m hunting down 'The Fugitive,' but I’m going to pass on 'Face/Off.' (Who came up with this terrifying concept? And who thought it would make a good movie?? And who decided to hire Nicholas Cage?!?!!).

P.S. – Don’t miss the footnotes!

Rating: 11/10 DVDS OF THE FUGITIVE