The inimitable Nora
THERE is a lot to love about Nora Ephron’s movies: her stories (always well narrated), her characters (captivating and real), her humour (biting, sometimes), and her candour.
But none of this would mean anything without her dialogue – sharp, witty, believable, self aware, and original (even when she re-imagined classic films).
Ephron is best known for her heartwarming, feel-good romantic comedies like the iconic Meg Ryan trilogy,
and
Ephron knew how to write love stories that were grounded in reality and could resonate with people. It was so much more than charting the ups and downs of dating followed by the compulsory happy ending. She also depicted how hard it was to cope with life, sometimes and how life got in the way of love.
Ephron always drew her material from her own life, going by an edict her mother left her: “Everything is copy.” An example: While they were dicussing
Ephron and director Rob Reiner disagreed on whether men and women could be “just friends”. Reiner said it wasn’t possible – sex would get in they way. Ephron believed it was possible: she had male friends with whom she’d never slept with. The two decided to bring this debate into the film ... although, I’m not too sure about the conclusion; after all, Harry and Sally did end up together. Still, it is a debate many people I know have had at one point or other, and it isn’t sugar-coated or exagerated on film.
Ephron died in 2012, aged 71, from pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia, a condition she was diagnosed with in 2006. However, her legacy lives on through her work – and not merely in her movies, as Ephron was a journalist, an essayist, a novelist, a playwright, and a blogger too.
is a compilation of sorts of her “greatest works”. It is a delightful way of getting a dose of Ephron now and then – we will not ever watch a new Ephron rom-com but we can still hear her voice in the pages of this book.
So good is her writing that you will be drawn in immediately. Ephron had flair. But more than that, she had a voice. She had something to say, and she said it in a way that made people want to listen.
Her style is confessional without being personal, firm about her point of view without being preachy, and funny without making any jokes.
I never knew about her love for food and cooking but when I read the section in the book entitled “The Foodie”, I immediately understood why the foodie movie
Author: Amy Poehler WHEN I was asked if I wanted to review my initial reaction was an exclamation of the title itself.
It is an understatement to say that I have a soft spot for Amy Poehler, having followed her career from her time on TV variety series
to her most recent comedy series,
Her sharp comedy writing and impressive improvisational skills aside, a big part of her appeal is that she is just so darn likeable. I, for one, would be entertained just watching her make breakfast.
That said, I was somewhat underwhelmed by Poehler’s attempt at a book.
It may be an obvious comparison, but I could not help but think of another memoir: (2011) by Poehler’s fellow comedian and friend Tina Fey (in fact, Fey has a chapter devoted to her in
While is a tightly-crafted memoir with each joke precisely calculated, seems to stay true to the improv approach. The result is a literary mad-libs that may leave readers grasping for a coherent narrative.
is more a scrapbook of memoir-ish essays, tidbits about the comedy industry, satirical pieces (there is a list of Poehler’s imaginary books on divorce) and even memorabilia in the form of photographs, report cards, handwritten notes, and excerpts from scripts.
If you can get past some of the more meandering pieces (the preface is a rather lazy rehash of the writing-is-hard variety), the untamed structure does lend the book a certain charm – you cannot predict what is around the corner.
Where Poehler really shines is when she writes about her working-class background and how her love affair with improv started.
Born in 1971 to a pair of teachers, Poehler grew up just outside of Boston. Recalling her parents arguing about financial commitments such as car payments, she writes that, “It was our soundtrack, this din of worry.”
She is also equally candid about dabbling in drugs; cocaine, for instance, is “terrific if you want to hang out with people you don’t know very well and play pingpong all night. It’s bad for almost everything else.”
Readers seeking a juicy tell-all about Poehler’s divorce from comedian Will Arnett are bound to be disappointed – that is one area of her life that is clearly still too painful even for Poehler to joke about.
is also peppered with pep-talk and rallying advice, casually veering into self-help territory.
The book’s main three sections