Ayoade on Top

This week’s book was a gift from my friend Amy, we were going to watch the movie and then read the book and have a little two-person book club. Then life, i.e., the never-ending kitchen remodel from hell, happened, and we never got around to reading the book. So, I decided to read it now, making this week’s book of the week Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade.

Ayoade on Top is a weirdly detailed breakdown, like scene for scene, of the 2003 rom com, or as Ayoade calls it, dramedy, View From the Top, which had a bizarrely all-star cast for a movie that basically no one saw. Seriously, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna Jensen, a small-town girl from Silver Springs, NV, which is, as my own addition to Ayoade’s breakdown, incorrectly listed in film as having a population of 5,221, which is nowhere near true. After 20 years of explosive growth, Silver Springs only has a population as of 2023 of 4,684. But mad props to Paltrow, she at least pronounced Nevada correctly, at least the first time she says it.

Paltrow is joined in the cockpit by Christina Applegate, Kelly Preston, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Rob Lowe, and Mike Myers.

So Ayoade takes each scene and does a detailed, moment by moment autopsy. In agonizing detail. He has clearly put way too much thought into this movie. More thought than I think either the director or even actors put into it. Interspersed between each scene is Ayoade’s wonderfully Monty Python-esque stream of consciousness rambling, that had me laughing along with the breakdown and the story in general.

And fuck me if I didn’t learn some things about film, about lighting and camera angles, things I usually never think of because I don’t care. I just want to watch a movie. But camera angles, lighting, hair styles, costuming choices, all are broken down in context of the story. Including a side trip breakdown of Cyndi Lauper’s music video for Time After Time. Which I felt compelled to watch as a result of his breakdown. And when he says, “In movies, and perhaps in life, nothing seems to anger a woman more than a man who can share her bed and sleep at the same time.” I found myself nodding in agreement. He’s not wrong. It’s damn irritating when my husband falls asleep before me. And when he concludes his break down with “Lauper’s head is trying to work out the logistics of remaining accessible while leaving forever, but her heart can’t forgive her lover for how well rested he seems to be.” I laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh.

And mentor Sally Weston encourages Jenson’s dreams with Paris, 1st Class, International as a mantra to see her through training. Hence my champagne-based cocktail…1st class, of course. In a blue solo cup is an appropriate nod to Jensen’s start in a Silver Springs trailer park. Of course, Jensen fails the final test and is put on a commuter lane, only to later discover she didn’t fail at all. Someone stole her test! And Jensen makes it to 1st class International and Paris, only to discover the happiness she wanted all along was in Cleveland, OH. Ok, Ayoade’s dramatic retelling does a much better job of capturing the heart break and thrills of View From the Top.

This book was so whimsical and goofy I couldn’t help but laugh. And part of its charm is that while it’s covering the most ridiculous b-level rom com/dramedy of the last twenty years, it plays it completely straight. Which just adds to the charm because while Ayoade plays it straight, you can feel the tongue in cheek throughout the story, along with a healthy dose of very droll British humor.

I did check, and the audio book was narrated by him. I might actually GET the audio book just to hear him read it.

I will say my favorite parts of the book were the stream of consciousness off topic ramblings that just left me rolling, in which he tackles Goop, yoni eggs, and vaginal weights… Which I googled and they are actually a thing. And my shopping recommendations on social media have been completely jacked ever since. He tackles Archimedes and family dramedies vs reality, and Icharus. And his final chapter where he wrestles his publisher into submission and accepting his book premise, triumphantly declaring that it shall be called Ayoade on Top, as the camera moves in for a close up of his manic face was a brilliant ending to wickedly funny and brilliant take down of a run of the mill romantic dramedy from the early 21st century.

This book was originally reviewed on YouTube on November 5, 2023, but is now available on Rumble and PodBean.