All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel BrooksMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
What are the most likely stories I would expect from a Mel Brooks autobiography? I would expect stories about his acting in movies and his comedy albums. I would expect some stories about making his movies, and background on the funny and memorable bits. And I’d expect some personal stuff. Ends up I mostly misjudged Brooks. He spends much of the first half of his book talking about his childhood and his efforts before achieving fame in the movies. This I found the most entertaining parts of the book. The second half of the book focused on his movies and his life with his wife. A surprising (to me) focus of many of his stories was the business aspects and the work aspects of directing and producing his films. I was expecting a thoroughly gossipy story but instead got the hard-working producer describing some of his biggest problems and how he solved them. I was also expecting all comedy, but Brooks describes his well-rounded portfolio of films of all types. I found his stories interesting from a business perspective, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. His background on his comedy films was quite interesting. I especially enjoyed his involvement with the incomparable Alfred Hitchcock while filming “High Anxiety”. If you’re looking for stories about his comedies, this has it. If you are looking for more traditional stories about childhood and early career struggles, this has it. If you want to know about the problems of a studio head, here you go. Brooks covers it all.
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