A review by toastlover1
Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life In No Way Whatsoever by Frank Conniff

3.0

I did enjoy this book, but it left me wishing for more. The essays are a little disjointed. I read a review or two before I bought the book, so I was forewarned that most of the content had a tenuous relationship to the movies that Conniff used as a basis to discuss just about whatever came to his mind. I completely understand that the vast majority of the audience for a book by this author are going to find it based on his connect to MST3K, so it only makes sense for him to use MST3K to lure readers, but then the reader should be able to expect a little more on the subject. As it stands, the book is a little bit MST3K memoir, a little bit autobiographical memoir, a little bit social commentary, and a whole lot of obscure movie and TV reference and discussion. None of this I minded, and Conniff is clever and amusing, but after the first few essays, the abrupt changes in topic and direction lost its appeal. I've followed Conniff on social media before and I was aware that he is unapologetically political and liberal, and I like that, but this book should have either stuck to the promise that it focused more on MST3K, or he should have written a full fledged memoir, or designed a collection of essays that highlighted his own funny and cynical view on the world, but the attempt to make this book a little bit of everything in just over a hundred pages falls short of its promise.