3,5/5

A book of it's time perhaps. Didn't care for any of the characters. Felt it was quite a bitter look at the media, society and politics. In fact, it felt like a knee jerk reaction to Tarantino's films such as Pulp Fiction that was released a couple of years before. Not sure if he was a fan. The characters were so obnoxious, I imagine he isn't a fan. Really struggled to finish and find anything meaningful in it. Felt like someone in a very bitter mood wrote this.

Gun violence is art when it’s in a movie by Oscar-winning director Bruce Demitri - not so much when it crosses over into his life. After a slow start that reeked of the 90s, this became fast and fun. A platform for classic Ben Elton rants about capitalist hypocrisy - perceptive, sharp and relentless.

Wow! My first book of 2021 and I cannot imagine I will read a worse book this year. This won a Gold Dagger Award? This is "brilliant satire"? No, this is a mess.

Ben Elton writes deeply clever TV comedy. The Young Ones, Alfresco Blackadder, Upstart Crow, winning works all. The Thin Blue Line is the weakest of his TV work but pure genius compared to this drivel.

Elton seems to have no idea where he intends to go for at least the first 50 pages. There are sentences that are excruciating to read (the editor either nodded off or missed those entirely). This is a uniquely American story loaded down with British idioms. There are no characters here, just caricatures.

At least I will never again wonder what Ben Elton the novelist is like. I now sadly know.

Obvious satire

Picked this up at a honest library and can’t say I really enjoyed it that much. I forced myself to finish it. I get that it is a satire and asking the question does violence in the media cause more violence. The characters were all deeply unlikeable (which I think was the point) and it felt extraordinarily rushed towards the end. So many reviews stated that this would be a ‘funny’ read but I can’t say I even smiled once while reading it. Maybe it was a riot when it first came out. But in 2022 it just wasn’t for me.

Brilliant and pointedly funny. This was my first time reading Elton and I look forward to reading his other books.

Ben Elton turns the sharp end of his pen towards slasher movies in Popcorn. This darkly comic tale sees the convergence of celebrated movie director Bruce Delamitri and murdering psychopaths Wayne and Scout.

Very much the theme of this novel is society’s aversion to responsibility. Bruce is facing accusations that his violent films breed violent acts, a la Sandy Hook and Batman Begins, which he refutes. Essentially, is TV a reflection or influence on society?

It’s a complex issue and Elton explores it well. There are strong arguments put forth by each side, though you get an idea of what his own views are.

The characters are less memorable than in Chart Throb or Dead Famous. Truthfully, the cast is very functional and plot based. The pace is steady but doesn’t build any tension or reach a climax that seems in any way different from the rest of the book.

Occasionally, Elton switches from prose to scripting the action along with directors’ notes. It’s an odd experiment and doesn’t add anything. In fact, it’s a little strange.

A very witty and typically accurate examination of popular culture, Popcorn captures the zeitgeist of our buck passing, blame shifting era and creates a very readable book on the way.

It is a very good book which is also very funny. It has a lot of hidden underlying social issues that also makes it a sad book that shows our flawed society. I would definitely recommend reading this book!

Really easy read, great observations of today's world regarding violence and the media.

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"I go to the movies for one thing only: to see things blown up and people blown away. It's like therapy, but with popcorn." --Unknown

Bruce has an ego the size of the sun and as fragile as an antique blown-glass Xmas ornament. He is genius. He is sure of it. He is a Hollywood movie director ala Quentin Tarantino and Sam Peckinpah, and like those two glitter town icons, Bruce is famous for making movies filled with mayhem and murder and carnage. In fact, he slaughtered 47 characters in horrific ways in his last movie alone.

Bruce is a genius, a mastermind of modern art. He says so himself. In fact, he is up for an Academy Award for Best Director. Now, Bruce admits that his movies are mental "popcorn" in the same way Romeo and Juliet or Beethoven's Fifth are. He also considers his films to be extremely witty: for instance, when an old lady in his movie is shot through her colostomy bag, her line is "Oh, shit!" HA!

"Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit." - Feste (Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5)

Unfortunately, even though he wins the Oscar, which makes him feel justified in his glorious self-image, there is a mob of furious protesters outside the ceremony that is harshing his mellow. Those protesters claim that Bruce's movie's graphic violence is encouraging copycat killings of real-life people. Those idiots. Can't they see that he is a genius? His movies are art. His movies depict a new reality. There is nothing Bruce cares about more than being thought of as a genius.

"He that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed." - Iago (Othello, Act 3, Scene 3)

Also unfortunately, there is couple out there who are big fans of his movies. Their names are Scout and Wayne. Scout and Wayne are husband and wife serial killers who are marauding across the states committing random acts of mass murder. [The book was written before mass murder was cool.] Scout and Wayne are big fans of Bruce’s movies and decide to pay him a visit.

"This even-handed justice commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice to our own lips." - Macbeth (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7)

Was good I enjoyed it.