The Grip of Film

By: Richard Ayoade

Narrated by: Richard Ayoade, Jesse Eisenberg, Jon Korkes

You SLUG the guy.

You KISS the dame.

You TOTAL the car.

That's movies. And I love 'em.

Gordy LaSure's passionate about film. He eats film, he drinks film, and sometimes he'll even watch a film. But most of all, he loves talking about film, and how they'd be a shit-ton better if only people would pull their asses out of their ears and listen to Gordy LaSure.

The voyage of this audiobook can be categorised as an attempt to understand How In Hell Film Works. Why are some films bad and some films terrible? How come just a handful of films (Titanic, Porky's, Dirty Harry) are any good at all? Gordy'll tell you How and Why, and he'll give you a shot of Wherefore on the side. And he doesn't shoot from the hip; he shoots from the gut.

©2018 Chicken Leg Ltd (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Garth Marenghi vibes

I knew Ayoade had more Marenghi energy left in him. This is like if Garth were a washed up film critic: chock full of unwarranted hubris and self importance and bursting with unintended comedic value. 10/10

What is this?

I have enjoyed everything else that Richard Ayoade has written, maybe I missed the mark on this one or am missing the point. I did not enjoy this at all, if you want to listen to a misogynist complain about how men are under appreciated in film (and in general), how women are inferior in all ways, and quite a bit of bigotry, then this book is for you.

Should have listened to a preview

Pointless audiobook, very little Ayoade to listen to. Check out an audio preview before purchase.

He should have dropped the Gordy persona

I know this is meant as a parody, but the choice of this fictional Gordy LaSure as the "voice" of the book made this almost too painful to get through. I appreciate the voice acting in the Audible release and the occasional flashes of Ayoade film wit that we've experienced in his other books. But this Gordy character presented as a misogynist caricature of a film director was just so, so painful. I was just determined to finish it because (1) I paid for this Audible title and (2) I don't like leaving even bad books only partially read.

So disappointing.

Ayoade at his most Ayoade!

While i was slightly disappointed at first when I learned Jon Korkes would be lending his voice to a share of the book as well, it was actually spot on having his voice for Ayo to riff on in the footnotes frequently occurring throughout.

Note - Other reviewers are right that this book reinforces the same sad point for hours, but to me that’s a crucial part of the joke. You do have to hear lots of profanity, references to “Secret Meat,” the too-often referenced Dramedy, non-whites (whole entries are devoted to the non-personhood of anyone not fitting his Arian standards) and all the failings of women as people/ stars/ non-coeds/ [insert other infuriatingly sexist/ paternalistic descriptor here].

the more I listened, it just got funnier (i thought of it as a privilege of for once to be laughing instead of crying at these real travesties during this cathartic parody). korkes plays a great know-it-all Hollywood stereotype (perhaps just a “type”).

I love Ayoade and love his brand of humor and felt like - as a woman well past my prime according the starlet/ex-wife status defined in the book, I was all in on the joke!!!!