Reese Witherspoon: The Biography

I love Reese Witherspoon. More than that I respect her as a person. I have seen most of her movies and a number of TV appearances and bios. This book is interesting to read and seems to give a good account of her young life up to age 31. It includes some insights I had not seen before. It would have been better if Reese had wanted to share her thoughts and feelings and had given some extensive personal interviews to quote.

What fascinates us about Reese Witherspoon? Is it what biographer Lauren Brown claims, that she's private in her dealings with the press and doesn't comport herself like the low rent Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan? I don't know. Is it that she's more quality than her competition and throws herself into roles like a modern-day Kim Stanley? Maybe. Brown's straightforward account of her work on learning the autoharp to play June Carter in I WALK THE LINE impresses the reader, and also I liked the way Mira Nair told Ryan to get Reese pregnant again so she would look more womanly and bosomy when Nair cast Reese as Becky Sharp in the ill-fated VANITY FAIR. Brown structures her book as though nothing important happened in the world besides the ascent of Reese Witherspoon, and her research involves countless interviews with COSMO GIRL and TEEN PEOPLE, so the book suffers from not enough context perhaps. We learn that Reese's career was at a low ebb after she made ELECTION, she couldn't even get a part as the main character's best friend, and that's what forced her into accepting the part in LEGALLY BLONDE. Brown says that playing 'Elle' in LEGALLY BLONDE made everyone love Reese, but not me. She holds Reese above other actresses for her refusal to play in "teen movies," but what on earth is the sensationally awful CRUEL INTENTIONS if not the teen movie to end all teen movies? Well, it spawned GOSSIP GIRL, I suppose, but Reese, let's not pretend you took the part without realizing it was a teen movie? A novice director, Robert Luketic, sounded off to the press after the completion of LEGALLY BLONDE and said he was astounded at Reese's haughty and unpleasant manner throughout the shooting of the picture. "Movies are supposed to be fun," he complained, and Reese killed that practice stone cold dead. Maybe it's because she's so tiny, she's like a tempest in a teapot. Whatever it is, she's got something that makes all the little stars (Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Philippe, Jake Gyllenhall) go wild about her. Brown compares her career to that of her no-good brother, the one who used to be her chauffeur and later was charged with sexual battery. In the family, she was "little Miss Type A," and he was "Little Misdemeanor." It is tough on an overachiever to have a brother who isn't as perfect as you are, but she's overcoming her shame and learning that there's more to life than just smelling the roses. Lauren Brown's other biographies are not as good as this one, but maybe that's because Emma Roberts and Lindsay Lohan are too young to make a good book. Whereas did you know that, after 9/11, it was to Reese Witherspoon that the nation turned when we wanted to have a little bit of fun in the wake of the Twin Towers disaster, so she was the first guest host of Saturday Night Live and she slayed us, as the comics say, with her improv bits.

Reading this well-researched bio made me want to watch all the Reese movies I missed, and it gave me a whole new appreciation for her career and character. I recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed her work.

Great book on Reese. Alot of chapters and information. If you're a fan of Reese, this book is highly recommended.