Reviews for The Deal: A Novel of Hollywood

The average rating for The Deal: A Novel of Hollywood based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-04-17 00:00:00 Mike Johanis Peter Lefcourt offers an entertaining insider's look at the madness behind Hollywood and the absurd convolutions people follow in an attempt to get a film made. There's a touch of the Roman a clef to the book, though not so much that it suffers from the rapid dating inflicted by the vicissitudes of popularity in the movie-making business. Down-on-his-luck producer Charlie Berns in just likable and clever enough to hold the reader's sympathy through his prevarications and sleights of hand as he takes advantage of his naive nephew Lionel and anyone else who presents an obstacle to his attempts to re-establish himself in the Hollywood machine. All the flightiness, wastefulness, and egotism that mars the movie business gets skewered with satire both sharp and gentle throughout the novel, effectively personified in characters representing broad types: dim-witted action stars, boozy has-beens, desperate starlets, neurotic executives, and tyrannical directors. Lefcourt makes them all both believable and absurd. Like other readers here, I listened to the unabridged audio read by William Macy, and his presentations brings the characters to life as only a talented character actor can. There are a few jarring mispronunciations, and the audio loops are occasionally uneven in volume, but this don't undermine Lefcourt's compelling and amusing story. I'd hardly call it "laugh-out-loud funny" as some reviewers have, but it's an entertaining diversion, especially for people who love the movies as I do. And it didn't hurt that there was a Hollywood ending.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-04-11 00:00:00 Stephen Burgess This is a very funny book which I heard on CD after seeing a movie of the same name. A movie producer, who has had zero success in many years, is trying to commit suicide when his nephew suddenly and unexpectedly shows up, with a movie script in hand. Uncle puts the suicide on hold and parlays this script into a fine movie which enjoys critical and commercial success. This book is a lot of fun to read, listen to, or view in the movie. One oddity: the star of the movie, William Macy, is also the reader on the audio book.