Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 6 reviews on
**Your Favorite Movies, Re-Watched** New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa-WHO IS A LION-to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!?!
From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, Lindy combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones-the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are. At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook.
Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they're one and the same.
Collection development librarian. Toddler Mom. Lover of books, beer and needlework. Opinions are my own, not my employer's.
I love Lindy West and this is SUCH a good title: SHIT ACTUALLY. #ewgc https://t.co/WTdQRl1AMH
Alix pronounced Al-eks (ˈælɪks) she/her. Words in @farsidereview and @LammergeierMag
Lindy West's insistence in her book Shit, Actually, that American Pie (a movie I was never allowed to see and don't regret skipping) is the stupidest movie ever made and gave the white patriarchal system a second wind, makes my teenage hood make sense.
(she/her) Chaos Muppet. Raconteuse. Twitter's gay Catholic aunt. Author of THE REWIND FILES. Sensational, ovational, boldly explorational. Protect trans kids.
@JorCru @jbouie my favorite thing about "Shit, Actually," Lindy West's book of film reviews, is that she begins with "The Fugitive," rates it the world's only perfect movie, and then ranks every other movie on a scale of 1-5 DVDs of "The Fugitive"
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