Sunday, September 20, 2015

Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt



Patton Oswalt is probably best known for playing the role of Doug Heffernan’s friend Spence on the sitcom The King of Queens. Besides acting, Oswalt has also done stand-up comedy for years and recently released Silver Screen Fiend, his second memoir.

This light but enjoyable book mostly focuses on a number of years where Oswalt claims he turned into a movie junkie. Oswalt continually makes the point that he was addicted to movies during these years and that he hoped watching huge numbers of films each week would teach him how to be a great film director. I found that his delusions of being a great director rarely presented themselves. He’s compulsive about his movie viewing but he doesn’t come off as someone dreaming about being the next Martin Scorcese. More often, he comes off as a rudderless man hiding from life in dark movie theaters. But just because he rarely follows his supposed theme doesn’t mean that Silver Screen Fiend isn’t entertaining. Oswalt is a good story teller with lots of good stories to tell. These include crossing paths with Jerry Lewis and wondering if Lewis’ ultra-secret film The Day the Clown Cried is in the briefcase on Lewis’ desk. There are also great tales of being on the road doing stand-up comedy and of what he had to learn in order to be a successful stand-up comedian. Oswalt also dishes out entertaining takes on the many films he watches during his time as a “sprocket fiend,” a name for movie junkies that he frequently drops in the book. These range from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to the very arty Last Year at Marienbad and everything in between. If you like movies, if you like stand-up comedy, or if you just like being entertained, Silver Screen Fiend is just the ticket.

John

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