The Book That Wrote Itself (1999) User Reviews

Amateur effort

[darren shan · 4/10 · 5 September 2001]

A would-be writer submits his historical novel to a couple of publishers. When they slam his writing talents (or lack thereof) and claim the book isn't believable, he sets out to prove them wrong by acting out the book in real, modern-day life, and hiring a photographer to film it. Some good ideas, but this ultra low-budget effort reeks of amateurism: the acting is weak, the script poor, the camerawork undistinguished. It deserves some credit for effort and ambition, but its shortcomings cannot be overlooked. The last 10 or 15 minutes are the most interesting, when the director works in interviews with real-life film stars at the Venice film festival, including George Clooney, Kenneth Branagh and Melanie Griffith -- but these scenes bear almost no relation to the rest of the movie!! At the end of the day, this is a film which friends and relatives of those involved can enjoy and admire, like a home movie -- for general audiences, there's little to connect with.

Student short stretched to feature length

[Joe Lunchpail · 4/10 · 17 November 2001]

I enjoyed some of this film, but I think it would have been better if it were half-an-hour long, or less. There were some interesting ideas and funny scenes, but by the end it didn't seem to amount to anything. The plot wasn't coherent enough to sustain a feature length film.

I look forward to Liam O' Mochain's next film, though.

The worse film I have ever seen (yes, I'm aware of the cliche)

[pepelipep · 1/10 · 1 June 2002]

Honest to god, the smurfs and all other fictionary people - this is the worse film I've ever seen. When I go and see a film with friends and it turns out to be very poor, we always say "Yes, it was pretty bad but not as bad as 'The book that wrote itself'.

Pathetic film-makers should be made into furniture in houses for really short people!

Basically, this is a warning: See this film.

Low Budget DV feature with unwitting cameos from George Clooney and Melanie Griffith.

[junglejayne0 · 7/10 · 3 October 2002]

As a piece of Cinema, "The Book that Wrote Itself", is unremarkable. The most interesting aspect of the film is the undeniable independent filmmaker spirit. It's easy to sit back and analyse a piece of work as either good or bad, if a Hollywood flick with a budget of millions is truly awful, where does the blame lie, answer, in the machine that is Hollywood, chances are the people involved will get another crack at the whip. When a low budget film is truly awful it generally means that the filmmakers career is over before it has begun. It takes a lot of courage to make a low-budget film, at the very least "The Book that Wrote Itself" is an honest attempt to create cinema. Bravo, for effort, I hope the filmmakers' get another shot.

original

[baz-15 · 5 September 2001]

These nice little low budget films can often be a lot more enjoyable than the big blockbuster ones. This one is kinda silly, it's got plenty of chuckles. The main character thinks he's got more talent than he has, he is annoying but he does funny things. There's a bit where the main character 'auditions' big name actors/directors for the film of his book. He does this by goin to the venice film festival and asking questions to them at the q/a sessions. For instance he asks george clooney would he ever be interested in appearing in a low budget irish film. So basically this guy has george clooney and chaz palminterry and melanie griffith appear in his film for free! Clever! 7/10