Charming...spiritually revealing ... So far as I can tell, Hanks’s book is not a roman à clef or a camouflaged tell-all or a sly act of disguised payback. Instead, it’s a novel shot in pastel tones ... Except for a few nods to entrenched sexism, the industry’s well-documented abuses are elided in favor of concentrating on the better angels of its nature ... A thoroughly engaging tale.
Opens with a prologue followed by 80 pages about uneventful life in a Northern California town where a young man meets his drifter uncle, a hero in World War II. Not much happens, so the long second chapter in Masterpiece may make you think, 'Why am I reading this?' and 'Where's the 'motion picture' stuff?' ... The trouble is that Hanks is guided by an actor's instincts, not a writer's ... In Masterpiece, Hanks includes all of that back-story stuff — he's constantly introducing minor characters, only to dive back into their childhoods — and most of it feels extraneous. That, readers, is why skimming was invented ... Entertaining, guided by Hanks' verbally dexterous humor, knowledge of film and idiosyncrasies.
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece was not for me, but, actually, I found it quite good ... There's plenty of drama ... The prose tilts toward the gratingly foppish ... 'Write what you know.' So Mark Twain advised, and Mr. Hanks took it to heart, though with the book clocking in at more than 400 pages he frequently overwrites what he knows. The best parts of Masterpiece beam in on the minutiae of movie making ... For better or worse, satire doesn’t seem to be what Mr. Hanks had in mind. With The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece he has composed a valentine to the unsung and the frequently uncredited worker bees of his industry, of, you know, this business of show.
It would be nice at this point to confirm Hanks’s book as a satire. That way we could applaud the means by which it deftly – even affectionately – pricks the pompous self-regard of Hollywood’s inner circle, complete with a star who unwinds by taking her Cirrus jet for a spin and a gonzo method actor who insists on sleeping in a tent. We might then go on to laugh at the idiotic footnotes that provide a needless justification for the use of slang and blithely mis-explain Alfred Hitchcock’s MacGuffin. Alarmingly, though, this tale is deadly serious. Johnson is great and Knightshade is amazing and therefore everything about them is a source of endless fascination. The production, says Hanks, runs for 53 days. Somehow his book makes it feel even longer ... A bland busman’s holiday dressed up as literary fiction, a bungled behind-the-scenes tour that can’t see the wood for the trees. It’s crying out for an editor. The plot is borderline incontinent ... aking a movie is tough; writing a novel is hard, too. So accentuate the positives, draw a line and move on. On a pure sentence level Hanks’s book is at times pretty good. Overall I confess it was very much not for me.
Hanks requires a windup...and it lasts for almost a full quarter of the book ... This leisurely pace, along with the accompanying full-color comic-book reproductions (also written by Hanks), hints at a wider literary aspiration. You sense that Hanks might be a little too in love with filmmaking to land all his intended punches, though ... Although this relative lack of conflict means that not much happens in terms of story, as a love letter to the profession that made the author’s name, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece couldn’t be sweeter. Extended proximity to the source material has meant that Hanks writes about this stuff with real affection.
A loving homage ... Charm abounds — again, this is Tom Hanks — but Masterpiece is too often a maddeningly excursive endeavor ... Sometimes Masterpiece reads like the thank-you speech Hanks, consummate nice guy, would give if granted unlimited time at the Oscars. You might admire its rah-rah spirit, yet still want to press fast-forward.
At least he’s not doing crypto commercials. Mediocre books hurt no one ... And there are things that Tom Hanks is naturally gifted at writing. Incisive satire, no. Rich, complex characters, no. But charming banter? Homespun coinages? ... There are no nepo babies on a Tom Hanks–written film set, and hardly any assholes. The writers are not on strike. Even the studio suits only show up on the first day of shooting, then make themselves scarce ... But Hanks’ interest in every small part—sorry, small actor—can make for rough reading. Hanks is simply constitutionally incapable of introducing a new character without delivering eight pages of their life story ... Once we’re on set, things liven up a little ... Some readers may find Hanks’ corniness fatal. I admire, I admit, his commitment to this idea of moviemaking, one that ignores the stupid, corrupt, even ugly parts of the process. I admire his relentless good cheer, the good cheer of a guy who, by all reports, has managed to remain a nice guy despite being the priceless object at the center of a multibillion-dollar industry for decades.
Hanks is, little surprise, skilled at creating characters. No crewmember is too small to escape the notice of Hanks’ pen as it sketches out loving backstories ... The writer on page is much like the actor on screen: an affable, easy hang. Hanks...is a gifted writer with a sparkling wit and innate curiosity about other human beings.
Ambitious ... Write what you know, the famous rule of fiction demands. Hanks does not waver from it. You learn, in sometimes entertaining fashion, plenty of things about how films get made ... ome of this detail also serves to emphasise, however, that the real magic of films shares something crucial with novels: what you leave out is at least as important as what makes the cut.
A proper work of literature, expertly structured, populated by characters and not caricatures and told in coruscating and confident prose with not a duff sentence in more than 400 pages ... There will never be a superior account of how Hollywood blockbusters got made in the early decades of the 21st century.
Sprawling and engaging ... Hanks’s attention to detail and quirky, full-blooded characters make this novel an ideal choice for fans of both James A. Michener and John Irving. It’s an old-fashioned 'big' novel that book clubs will love getting lost inside.
Hanks’ familiarity with the filmmaking process and keen eye for detail make his first novel (with comic book panels illustrated by R. Sikoryak) a joy for anyone who loves the art of cinema. Hanks retains a childlike sense of wonder even as he moves among adults whose powers, like movies themselves, are just illusions that we will ourselves to believe.
Entertaining ... Neither slashing satire nor moody melodrama, this sincerely Hanksian paean to the people behind the scenes of a movie production comes to life with great characters. It’s a winner.
