...the flip side of the movie business, that is, this memoir of a former agent and producer. The 300 films he mentioned are scattered throughout in italics. Mr. Medavoy writes extensively of the process of producing movies. He makes sures we know he is responsible for the success of many motion pictures. He also admits no one knows why one film which shows every indication of becoming a smash will fail, while another will come out of nowhere and become a hit. OK, but there is no gossip. There are no entertaining anecdotes. There is nothing interesting, in fact nothing to interest the average reader who is interested in Hollywood. I said the average reader. These pages and pages of numbers and formulas and musings about box-office openings are no doubt fascinating to accountants and marketing people. I picture them swooning over this book. If books could be compared on a scale with movies, one might say "You're Only As Good.." is the "Citizen Kane" of number crunchers.

Medavoy is a character I've read about before, most notably in Hit and Run, one of the most fascinating Hollywood books ever written. He has been behind many fantastic movies and worked with some terrific characters. However, this book misses it's mark--it is really worth 3.5 stars but I rounded down. There are interesting stories--particularly about building a movie company, but the stories are without that depth that the best Hollywood books provide. There are almost no personal details about Medavoy's life--which while he probably wants to maintain his privacy, leave the story lacking. His political adventures are interesting, but more interesting that his personal life? He is critical of people, but in a way that leaves you wanting more. Perhaps I love dirt, and Medavoy is too classy for that. Perhaps he wants to maintain his working relationships. Nevertheless, he plays humble, and probably is. Autobiographies in Hollywood are a tricky genre, but Robert Evans provided a terrific read with the Kid Stays in the Picture. This books has a good stories and interesting moments, but was at times slow and often told the same story over and over. We got the point the first time Mike. I'm not upset I read it, but expected so much more. He has must have some great stories in there somewhere...

There is nothing simple about being a success in making movies. It is a time consuming endeavor and one that requires truckloads of money at (great) risk. Mike Medavoy & Josh Young make their story interesting from beginning to end and talk more of the business end of films as that is Mike's expertise. There are a few stories about stars, but primarily it is the problems encountered in making and financing a movie. I learned a lot about the film industry which is now approaching an entirely new way of doing things as regards the technical composition (digital and computer enhanced)as touched on at the end of this book. This is an intelligent and interesting book about filmmaking.