Surprised by the violence written about in this book but that wasn’t the real intent or message of the author. It’s not a bad read and it makes you question who really is at fault. Is it society? Individuals? Or media when it comes to violence on television.

This was fun. Gripping and just the kind of book I needed to get out of my book slump.
Interesting moral dilemma, too.
Thanks to my English teacher who gave it to me.

Excellent novel that made me think. Over 20 years later & I'm still thinking about it.

Another innovative satire by Elton… looking at modern culture, especially multimedia and if / or how it impacts on the very people it demonises? Mass murderers confront an Oscar winning director who creates popular films about murdering sprees. What starts off as a cliché ridden story evolves into something far more. A very good read! Worthy 8 out of 12, Four Star read just for the thought provoking issues it raises.

2010 and 2018 read

Scathing satire of Hollywood, television, society, and the violence in movies debate. A very funny book that also provides a though-provoking debate about the causes of violence in our society. It is a must read for fans of Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, etc. it is also a must read for those who condemn Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, etc. Echoes of Tarantino’s script for Natural Born Killers.

I liked the writing style more than the actual story, flew through this in one sitting due to its simplicity

A fun read, if not the most consistent. I don't think the intention of the author was to write a serious piece of literature, however: I think it's supposed to be fun. A bit of popcorn, as you might say.
That's not to excuse the errors, of which there are some, merely a possible explanation for them. I'm sure they could've been ironed out with a lot of work, and I'm sure this author is capable of doing so, but I bet he wanted to move on to something else by that point. The whole premise of this book seems to me to be something thought up while drinking - or, perhaps, doing something else that causes you to talk nonsense at 3am, as he so astutely notes in here. It's pretty rounded, when you consider that.
It feels at times like it was imagined first as a film, or possibly a play. That's not just because of the sections that are written like plates, but the overall emphasis on speech with some visuals, as opposed to anything else. It does move very fast because of this - I finished the whole book in around three hours - but this might also be due to the fact that this 300 page book contains so much blank space, at least in my edition, which is a pet hate of mine. This speed would also lend itself to a film, and so reinforced that impression on me. The plot being focused on the silver screen and its trappings probably didn't hurt, either, along with all the Hollywood clichés intentionally sprinkled throughout the book.
It is pretty good satire, even for a casual reader like me who has no real idea of what tinseltown is actually like (as evidenced by the fact I just called it tinseltown, probably). It does seem to be aimed at a certain director, but that might just be my bias on it, coming from a much later viewpoint.
Speaking of: it's good to see how much America has progressed, as there's no real discussion about films inciting real-world violence anymore. There's no need, is there, when you've got the President doing that instead.

Another entertaining and thought provoking read from Ben Elton. It works as a satire and also as a thriller. Took me a while to get into into as the first few chapters are a little disjointed. But from a third in, its more of a continuous narrative, that borders on farce, horror, humour, social commentary etc etc. Not his best, but very readable.

Satire & suspense. Director Bruce Delamitri, whose movies make killing cool, thinks the night he wins the Best Director Oscar will be the best night of his life. Things quickly change when he & Brooke (the nude model/actress he picked up at the after party) are taken hostage in his home by Wayne & Scout, the Mall Murderers. Funny & enjoyable. (I found this author because he was included in a list of writers that Christopher Moore said had influenced and inspired him.)

Ingenieus gecomponeerde nagelbijter, maar ik heb te traag gelezen om me helemaal in te leven. Of was het toch doordat er geen enkel herkenbaar of sympathiek personage te vinden was? Ik heb het als een buitenstaander gelezen. Een buitenstaander met veel bewondering voor Eltons sarcastische humor, vernuftige opbouw en speelse wissels van stijl en POV, maar desalniettemin een buitenstaander.

En ook: de VS op hun lelijkst.

Maar ook: een echt nineties-boek.

I’ve read this book twice now and enjoyed it the second time around as much as the first. I love Elton’s dark humour and enjoy all of his books.

Violence, sex, Hollywood and the glitz and glamour of the oscars all intertwine with the question of does movie violence influence those to commit crimes of murder and violence in real life?

This was the first Ben Elton book I ever read and will be going through my Ben Elton collection to read them all again. From Popcorn his work only gets better.

Takes ages to get going and delights in satirising Tarantino. Once the actual story kicks in about 1/3 of the way through, it is interesting but always feels a bit too on the nose, like it's flashing an alarm and pointing to every piece of violence or point about the media and saying, "See?! Do you get it?!" The vignettes written in script format only make things worse.

Even so, it's an interesting idea and mostly entertaining even if the characters are paper thin. The final segments were a bit preachy but I really liked the epilogue. Ultimately, it was too long for what it is and didn't have enough meat on its bones. In a book like this, it would be easy for someone to say 'that's the point...' but it's doubtful that it was.