MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewIt’s a likable memoir of how Jay and Mark Duplass blazed their idiosyncratic trail, and an inspiring how-to guide for anyone who might wish to follow it ... Sure, there are also parts that seem extraneous or simply don’t work, but the Duplasses never pretend to be masters of their craft ... In episodic chapters, the Duplasses recount their upbringing in Metairie, La., and boyhood rites of passage like getting cable TV and a video camera to shoot their first movies. There’s a refreshing unpretentiousness to these sections ... Other sections, in which they compile and consolidate lists of their Top 10 films of all time, or imagine elaborate back stories for strangers they see at airports, may seem charming to devoted fans but felt like filler to me. More worrisome were passages in which the brothers, for all of their enthusiasm and desire to get others to participate in cinema, seem unaware of their inherent privilege as white men from a comfortable background, and who, as siblings working together, have an irresistible gimmick ... Still, it’s hard not to root for the Duplasses in moments like the one when their sales agent tells them they’re not allowed to attend the Sundance after-party for their film Baghead, lest it appear that they’re not engaged in heated efforts to get the movie sold.
