300 New-to-Me Films/Albums/Books in 2012 : 002/300
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (2011) : ★★★★☆
I’ve seen other bloggers commit to watching 365 new-to-them movies in 2012, but I probably wouldn’t be able to find the time to do that, so I’m going to combine films, albums, and books that are new-to-me and set the number at 300. Let’s see how close I get.
Is there no way to type out half a star? Because it looks like I gave this a four, but I really want to give Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? a 4.5 out of 5. It’s heartwarming, funny, and very well written. In fact, I enjoyed it slightly more than Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which caught me by surprise. The two books are going to be inevitably compared to each other. Two women who write and act on critically acclaimed NBC comedy shows releasing books a few months away from each other? The comparison is an easy one to make.
But I give Kaling the edge over Fey because Kaling’s book is the more relatable one of the two. It’s very easy to tell that Kaling loves comedy more than most other things in life. Her ability to write about usually serious topics (like feeling out of place as a child and being picked on for being chubby) and turn them into humorous stories is really great. I’m sure people who just know Mindy Kaling from her portrayal as Kelly Kapoor on The Office wouldn’t expect it, but Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) shines because it has a ton of heart.
Next review: Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film ‘A Clockwork Orange’
