Fun facts and food for thought are in no short supply here, and some truly entertaining truths emerge in Raftery’s extensive research (which includes 100-plus new interviews with directors, writers, and actors). Movie and pop-culture nerds will relish this fizzy, nostalgic trip.
Raftery makes a persuasive, entertaining case for the enduring impact of a passel of classics ... His tone, like the period’s, is jaunty but jaundiced ... Raftery’s voice and thesis suit today’s craving for Nineties Nostalgia ... has its hiccups. Raftery, despite a nice shout-out to John Hughes, favors ’90s kids-in-crisis films over 'crummier Reagan-era teen movies' ... may also be biased, inflating the significance of the cultural touchstones of its author’s youth.
Raftery doesn’t just recap the movies or rely solely on previously published pieces meticulously acknowledged in endnotes. He conducted 130-plus new interviews with actors, directors, writers and crew members, and the distance allows reflection and freedom to relive jubilation, anxiety or disappointment ... a chance to revisit films you loved or loathed, a guide for what to stream, and a reminder that movies were written off once before and then the lights went down and 1999 came up.
Raftery’s book works best — and works rather well — as a report on moviemaking as it existed two decades ago ... Raftery’s interviews with scores of actors, directors, writers and others power interesting and intriguing backstories about several movies that are pretty darn good and others that are pretty darn forgettable. Funny thing, even if a movie isn’t much to look at, how it got to theaters can be engrossing when Raftery teases out a telling anecdote.
... painstakingly researched, highly enjoyable ... What’s interesting about the films of 1999, and what Raftery teases out perfectly, isn’t so much the quality of the films or the new technology that was used. Rather, it’s how of the time many of the movies were — as well as how forward-thinking and prophetic.
... thoughtful and entertaining ... If there's a mournful quality to the epilogue on how much things have changed--such as Kirsten Dunst lamenting the decline in quality of modern movies--there's excitement, too: a film year like 1999 could happen again just as people have given up hope ... Ultimately Best. Movie. Year. Ever. is an engaging and brilliantly researched book on, as Raftery calls it, 'the most unruly, influential, and unrepentantly pleasurable film year of all time.'
... a spirited celebration ... does a fine job taking us behind the scenes to reveal how the films were made, actors chosen, and film scores written ... Though he doesn’t make a fully convincing case for the importance of 1999 in film history, Raftery offers plenty of interesting trivia ... Fun, light entertainment for devoted moviegoers.
