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Popcorn: A Novel Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 867 ratings

Bruce Delamitri makes movies about killers. Great movies, stylish movies. Bruce's movies are hip. Post-modern cinematic milestones, dripping with ironic juxtaposition. His killers are style icons. They walk cool; they talk cool. Getting shot by one of them would be a fashion statement.

Enter Wayne and Scout. Real killers. Appalling, demented maniacs who kill people they do not know.

Popcorn by Ben Elton is an international success, prevailing at number one for five weeks on London's Sunday Times bestseller list. This taut and darkly funny novel also poses a serious question: In a society addicted to murder, is there anything such as a responsible person?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Controversial and past caring, equal parts cool and cruel, Bruce Delametri is Hollywood's hottest director. Tonight, he's at the apex of his career, with an Oscar cradled in one hand and Miss February in the other. But then he gets a visit from two special fans, and all hell (quite literally) breaks loose.

Popcorn, a novel from British sitcom writer Ben Elton (Blackadder, The Young Ones), is the satirical novel done 1990s style. It is a book about the movies that indicts the movies, and that has every chance of being made into a movie. It rings all the familiar changes on the theme of Hollywood vapidity, crassness, and decadence; however, Popcorn accomplishes this so deftly that you may not realize that you've heard it all before until you're finished with the book. Popcorn has little new to say about America and the culture for which it stands: talk-show hosts that are vacuous, movies that are violent, and audiences that are moronic. (The one benefit to shooting this particular fish in this particular barrel is that most readers will find it hard to disagree.) That said, the book generates an undeniable tension. Popcorn is a pleasing (if not always pleasant) page-turner, and the last 20 pages will definitely give you pause.

From School Library Journal

YAAA unique novel that combines a thrilling story line with the thought-provoking question of society's responsibilities toward its various members. Oscar-winning director Bruce Delamitri makes popular movies containing senseless violence and murder. He feels nothing but disdain for the critics and "bleeding hearts" who condemn his work, for he believes that he is just giving the public what they want to see. On Oscar night, two psychopathic killers who have all of Bruce's movies memorized, and are emulating different scenes, invade the man's home, taking him captive, along with his soon-to-be-ex-wife, his daughter, and several other members of Hollywood society. As the police and media surround the house, the question that everyone is asking is, "Are Bruce Delamitri's movies to blame for the situation in which he now finds himself?" This novel often uses fairly sophisticated or graphic language that suits the theme and violent situations, but the plot is easy to follow. Fast-moving recreational reading or a springboard for discussions on the interrelationships of human beings and society.AAnita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00H6EOLDU
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press (January 28, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 28, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1189 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 305 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 867 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2019
    Might be my new favorite author! The story was a little gory but the message was a good one. The novel also has some pretty foul language so if you are opposed to that I do not recommend this book.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2014
    As usual Elton is spit on with his analyses of the woes of what passes for culture. I read this book twelve years after it was published, probably a few more since written. The underlying premise is still accurate, but the plot us somewhat dated.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2000
    Having loved Ben Elton's television work, I thought I knew what to expect from a novel of his...a lighthearted romp that would have me rolling. I could not have been more wrong.
    This novel is not funny. You may chuckle once or twice at some good lines, but it's not funny. It's dark, brooding, and at its heart serious. It's a great satire, poignant and thoughtful. But it's not a comedy by any means.
    If you want a good, biting look at Hollywood and its current direction, read the book. But be prepared to think.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2015
    Five star. Fantastic read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2016
    Really entertaining read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2005
    This novel was first published in 1996. Whether there has been any updating of the text beyond one reference to the 21st century in this new paperback edition I simply have no idea.

    Ben Elton is a caricaturist and satirist. He was scriptwriter for the Blackadder series, he used to do a standup comic routine on television that I thought brilliant, and he has several other novels to his name that will give you some idea of what to expect from this one. As with all the best satirists, the humour comes from his sharp eye for the way people behave and think and from his willingness to be near the bone and explicit about issues that are normally thought to require some delicacy. This particular book is hung around the theme of extreme violence, and I'm quite sure that Quentin Tarantino was its inspiration, but any resemblance between the film-director hero and Tarantino himself is really neither here nor there, and the book is not really concerned either with resolving the question whether violence on the media does or doesn't cause violence in real life - we are no nearer an answer to that on the last page than we are on the first. What it is about is the mentality that refuses to accept personal responsibility in the traditional sense.

    The setting is America and the satire is a particularly English kind of satire, but Popcorn is not about comparing cultures. There are references to certain notorious American trials where the author is left rubbing his eyes with disbelief at the outcome, but I dare say he would have thought the same about the trial of Jeremy Thorpe back at home as he does about the O J Simpson and Lorana Bobbitt cases. Ben Elton's politics are a matter of public record, and they are leftish in much the way my own are. It is not a left-wing stance that finds much time or sympathy for any view that can shuffle off plain guilt on to an individual's background or circumstances, relevant though those may be by way of understanding some aspects of the matter. Elton also throws up his hands in seeming despair at what he sees as a triumph for sheer illogicality and irrelevance in the way issues of criminal guilt are in practice decided on a basis of ethnicity or gender-politics. And whatever influence the media may or may not have in creating or contributing to a culture of violence, he seems in no doubt that the forces of law have to, or at least choose to, trim their sails to the way the media will present issues and the way the public will be swayed by such presentation.

    Popcorn is, as I say, satire and caricature, not straight reportage or academic analysis. It focuses its spotlight on absurdity, unreasonableness, perversity and a sheer childish immaturity in people's attitudes. The two psychotic villains of the piece are partly depicted as human beings, but partly also as talking heads - mouthpieces for stating an argument. Nobody at all in the book comes out of it particularly well, and Ben Elton takes some sideswipes, in his usual way, at various incidental targets like goody-goody attitudes and the more brainless kinds of patriotism, while not sparing liberal maundering of the `we are all partly guilty' variety. The money culture comes under heavy fire as you might expect too, and some of the most painful insights relate to that, although the epilogue, with everyone suing everyone else, is extremely funny in a sad sort of way. As for the ostensible theme of the real or supposed effect of media violence on the way people behave, he settles for a simple summation of that in the mouth of the female murderer - it can hardly help.

    I have no problem with giving this novel five stars. The author is outstandingly bright and lively-minded, with real independence and originality. Where he stands in some great stately tradition of satirists and social critics - Juvenal, Voltaire, Swift and similar turgid giants - I neither know nor care. I'm pleased to see the tradition of English satire still flourishing, and I stay hopeful that the final Armageddon, which is really a battle between sense on the one hand and cant, doctrine, piety and herd-mentalities on the other, may not actually be lost.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2016
    Satire on Hollywood and people in general----decent general story but I think he is capable of much better.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2015
    great fun.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Coaster
    5.0 out of 5 stars Quite shocking
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on June 11, 2024
    This is the first time I’ve read a book that made me tense and also made me laugh out loud. A classic Ben Elton must read, highly recommended
  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to know how the author writes this sequel.
    Reviewed in India on July 16, 2022
    Very interesting and absorbing
  • Steve Sparks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Film and Reality - a thin line.
    Reviewed in Germany on February 28, 2020
    A fast moving story that shows how films and the media can have an influencing effect on real life - the characters are truly plausible and as the drama unfolds it gives much food for thought, whilst being entertaining at the same time.
  • Michele S
    4.0 out of 5 stars Seems very good!
    Reviewed in Italy on November 14, 2018
    Ho letto le prime pagine e sembra scritto benissimo! Per ora promette bene!
  • Jean Mackeurtan
    5.0 out of 5 stars pOPCORN
    Reviewed in France on October 17, 2013
    Great -it arrived earlier than expected and in a very good condition - thank you very much and if I have to write any more I will get cross

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