There is always a big decision to make when Mark Kermode brings out a new book. Should it be purchased in paper format, or as an audiobook read by the good Doctor himself? True, the book does cost half the price, but any regular listener to the Kermode & Mayo film review show (BBC Radio 5 live), must surely be tempted to go the extra six quid and get the audio version from iTunes. And this is exactly what I did when I heard Dr. Kermode manfully plugging his book last week (also on 5live).
I should add that some of my favourite radio moments of the last decade have involved Mark Kermode, his rants about the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels are awesome. With or without 3D glasses, he is a man that sees no shades of grey. He thinks that he is right and everyone else is wrong, and often says so.
It is important to understand that this is not so much a book, as series of lectures. It is by and large constructed of snippets of the aforementioned 5live show. This presents one of the books biggest problems, any regular listener to his show will have heard nearly all his opinions and anecdotes before.
The books tour de force, is a vivid description about a visit he and his daughter took to local multiplex. Any regular cinema visitor will nod with resignation as he recounts a series of unfortunate events spanning from the online booking process, to the rolling of the final credits, albeit with only 90% of the picture being visible. We share in his exasperation as he can't get his ticket from the credit card machine, then we share his anger as he can't get the teen at the popcorn outlet to understand that he can't get said ticket machine to work. This is all a mere appetiser to Kermodes' central complaint - when he finally makes it to his cinema seat, the top chunk of the picture is missing. He then goes on to lament the lack of projectionists in multiplex cinemas and the general lack of anyone to sort things out when something goes wrong. He predictably gets no joy from the cinemas management. But somewhat less understandably, he doesn't follow the complaint up, or get a quote from the chain of cinemas, or tell us who they are.
It's this lack of questioning, that lets the book down. Too often he relies on a generalisation or cheap remark, (something really original like the World Series only involving North American teams), rather than seeking out answers. His jibe about television (a medium he doesn't watch), as 57 channels and nothing on- seems to be based more on the desire to repeat an old lyric, rather than any knowledge or fact. Surely the platform that has given us Dexter, Mad Men, The Wire, and The Sopranos deserves better from an informed critic.
The book is at its most enjoyable when he stands up for the underdog, literally in the case of his love for Dougal and the Blue cat, and his staunch defense for the talents of Zac Efron. Sadly, the book is at its weakest and most patronising when he tries to explain why people haven't enjoyed films that they think they have enjoyed, when he criticises the Americans for not rewarding the right kind British movies and a rather tedious rant about remakes of foreign movies. He informs us that no one will watch an original version of a movie, after watching the Hollywood remake. This was news to me, as I enthusiastically sought out Infernal Affairs and Let the right one in, after enjoying their Hollywood remakes The Departed and Let me in. But maybe that's just me.
There are other things to enjoy here, the details he gives about when he first wrote reviews as a child are moving and fascinating. His chapter on 3D is great(and correct in every way), but it is nothing that even a casual listener to his radio show wont have heard dozens of times before. And that brings us back to the main problem, this whole project feels a bit like an overpriced deluxe greatest hits album; another way to buy stuff you've already listened to.
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