Adept ... Though the book has its shortcomings, he rightly sees the movie as a kind of passkey into the history of the first half-century of Hollywood itself, warts and all ... Lubin is alert to the various ways that Sunset Boulevard doesn’t just observe Old Hollywood but serves as its mausoleum.
Delightful ... Lubin makes fresh observations about the movie’s many allusions to real Hollywood history ... Sharply written ... Lubin is lively and incisive, adeptly balancing production history and biography with his penetrating film analysis ... Lubin never lets the temptation of gossip or too much detail disrupt his work of unpicking the real from the reel. He also pushes beyond the realm of Hollywood lore to connect the film to the thematic through line in Wilder’s work.
For anyone fascinated by Hollywood’s beginnings or Billy Wilder’s body of work, this heavily researched yet never dense page-turner is an essential addition to any film fanatic’s bookshelf.
Insightful ... On its 75th anniversary, this unflinching exposure of fame’s endpoint has plenty to say to a culture in which attention is more important, and more fleeting, than ever.