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A review by beach
Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey by Richard Ayoade
1.0
Ayoade is an on-screen comedic talent I can admire, and his debut film 'Submarine' is one of my favourites - but none of his sparkle is captured in his book.
This book has revealed to me that my appreciation of Richard as an actor in shows like 'IT Crowd' and 'Darkplace' mostly comes from the wonderfully chemistry he creates with his normally pedantic, deadpan delivery among his peers who are nothing alike. 'Ayoade on Ayoade' is exactly as it sounds, Richard interrogates himself in interview form for three hundred painstaking pages. Without someone to bounce off of, to create an interesting dynamic, the book becomes little more than a sometimes-funny mostly-repetitive pile of meandering and circular thoughts that feel completely marred by a complete lack of self confidence. When it feels as though it's becoming too emotional, it plays it off with a self-deprecating remark. When it feels too timid about an opinion it attempts to present, it interrupts its own train of thought with a deferring joke. It's such a wasteland of wit and content.
Knowing nothing about this book going in, I hoped it would be a candid piece where Ayoade would bare his heart a little - sharing his influences and passions and exploring his weaknesses. Instead, it poses questions and provides no answers. The answers it pretends to give are so slick with sarcasm or self-referential wit that there's no way to actually take hold. At least I can say it's not being smug or malicious in this deflective style of writing, it's clearly all played for laughs, it just doesn't work for me if the contextual core is also the butt of every single joke. I like Ayoade, I really do, I just wanted him to be more present in the book in ways beyond quipping to the mirror.
This book has revealed to me that my appreciation of Richard as an actor in shows like 'IT Crowd' and 'Darkplace' mostly comes from the wonderfully chemistry he creates with his normally pedantic, deadpan delivery among his peers who are nothing alike. 'Ayoade on Ayoade' is exactly as it sounds, Richard interrogates himself in interview form for three hundred painstaking pages. Without someone to bounce off of, to create an interesting dynamic, the book becomes little more than a sometimes-funny mostly-repetitive pile of meandering and circular thoughts that feel completely marred by a complete lack of self confidence. When it feels as though it's becoming too emotional, it plays it off with a self-deprecating remark. When it feels too timid about an opinion it attempts to present, it interrupts its own train of thought with a deferring joke. It's such a wasteland of wit and content.
Knowing nothing about this book going in, I hoped it would be a candid piece where Ayoade would bare his heart a little - sharing his influences and passions and exploring his weaknesses. Instead, it poses questions and provides no answers. The answers it pretends to give are so slick with sarcasm or self-referential wit that there's no way to actually take hold. At least I can say it's not being smug or malicious in this deflective style of writing, it's clearly all played for laughs, it just doesn't work for me if the contextual core is also the butt of every single joke. I like Ayoade, I really do, I just wanted him to be more present in the book in ways beyond quipping to the mirror.