The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World's Finest Actor

So when I got The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray, a rare occurance happened in which I had already decided I loved the book before cracking the thing open...then slowly but surely, reality crept in.

I'll start with the good. Quirk Books did a fantastic job with this. The layout, the photography, and how it all came together is a work of art. It's so aesthetically pleasing you can't help but want to pick this thing up and start flipping through it. Leave it out on a coffee table and your friends will indeed ask to borrow it...and possibly never return it. The publisher really came through on their end. I also can't deny that—at it's high points—it's one helluva read. I won't spoil anything, but Bill Murray is one of the most interesting people to ever work in film. Eccentric doesn't even begin to cover it.

Here's where the problems start. Aside from aesthetics and content, this isn't really the Bill Murray book you're expecting and probably not the one you want, either. The author tells you that up front: Bill Murray had nothing to do with this book. It's assembled from articles, quotes, and interviews with people that knew Bill in one capacity or another—but Bill himself had no actual involvement. Nothing hugely revealing or new is brought to the table. Most of the information is already out there on the interwebs, but I can't help but admit it's nice to have all that information in one beautiful package.

So here's where things get super dicey: the format. This book is put together like a Bill Murray encyclopedia—hence, not chronologically—which gives it this horribly disjointed feel. One page you're reading about Ghostbusters, and then a few pages later you're reading about golf, and then that's followed shortly thereafter by Cary Grant. The entire thing is a jumping of topics and time periods. I wondered if some of them were even worth mentioning. Maserati is Bill's favorite brand of car. "Summer Breeze" is one of Bill's most hated songs. These two topics each have their own very short sections. One page you're reading about a movie Bill was in during 2009 and the next you're reading about a movie he turned down years previous. For someone like me who has a pretty good understanding of his career, this was a little confusing. I can only imagine how it would read to a passive fan or someone not familiar with him at all.

Lastly, Robert Schnakenberg's non-objective approach might rub some poeple the wrong way. Schnakenberg gives each Murray film two different star ratings--one for the overall movie, and another regarding just Bill. When Schnakenberg calls Scrooged "...easily the worst film in [Murray's] career," it sort of makes you question the entire system. Take the ratings at face value and watch the movies for yourself.

All in all, I don't love this book; I love the idea of it. I love what it could have been, but there are plenty of anecdotes, quotes, and other factoids to carry the reader through. This is a nice reference guide that can easily be killed in one sitting. A hardcore fan should definitely own this.

I love the design of this book and the encyclopedic format makes it a nice reference book. The color photos are great, as are the many side "Tales from Murrayland" stories and other sidebars.

My biggest complaint is that the author chose to write his own reviews of Murray's movies instead of just list facts, trivia or quote Bill Murray and other cast/crew members about the making of the movies. This became quite clear when the author gives "Scrooged" his lowest rating and labels it as "easily the worst film of his career," which is ludicrous, seeing as one of the author's three favorite Murray movies is the Garfield sequel!

Clearly, if you are even considering this book, then you are already a bit biased...you are very likely to enjoy this book. It is fun, light, casual reading, with more than enough to keep you reading for a while. Note that this is NOT an authorized biography (the author makes that point clear...he tried to reach Bill Murray, but failed). Rather, it is a collection of stories and trivia about Bill Murray...sometimes in Bill Murray's own words (via other sources), sometimes summarized by Schnakenberg.

The strengths of the book:
* The organization: at first, I thought it strange that the book is organized alphabetically, but then it quickly grew on me. There were specific things I wanted to look up and I knew right where to find them. For example, I knew that there had been a fight between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, so I looked up Chevy Chase's name, and there were the details. I wanted to know more about the legend of his 800-number, and so I looked under the "E" section (you know, "e" for "eight"), and there it was. Movie titles, Wes Anderson, SNL, Murray's siblings...all easy to find. I also appreciated that each of Murray's movies included a note at the end that pointed to his next movie chronologically. That was a nice touch (though it would have been equally nice to point back to his previous movie as well).

* Short articles: I do not want depth in a book like this. Give me tidbits...articles I can read in just a few minutes. The book succeeds in being a mile wide and just a few inches deep. There are a few pleasant exceptions (3 pages on Ghostbusters, for example), but the majority of entries are just a paragraph or two.

* The physical design of the book: This is an attractive book. I would not hesitate to give "The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray" to someone as a gift. The coloring, the thickness of the pages, and the collection of photos throughout all make this a nice coffee-table book (though some might consider it too small for it to be called that).

A few minor complaints:
* Too many entries for movies that did NOT have Bill Murray. Apparently, he has been offered and has turned down many movies over the years. Schnakenberg seems to feel that each needs its own entry. I find that a bit distracting: I see a movie title and think, "Oh, I want to know what Bill Murray did in that movie," only to find that the answer is "nothing".

* Other unnecessary entries: For example, a two-sentence entry that simply explains that Murray was not a fan of the TV show "Cheers."

* Surprises in depth (or lack of depth): As mentioned, I appreciate the short articles. However, there are some oddities: the same amount of space...one paragraph...dedicated to Saturday Night Live and to "Ghostbusters: The Video Game", but two pages dedicated to "Garfield: The Movie". To be fair, some SNL stories appear in other sections of the book (such as the longer article on "Nick the Lounge Singer").

Still despite these little quirks, the book contains references to just about any Murray-related lore I can think of. I highly recommend this if you or someone you know just can't get enough of Bill Murray.

This is NOT an authorized biography of Bill Murray. However, Robert Schnakenberg did his research, and did it very well. These are stories about, involving, or of Bill Murray and the highlights of his life. Some of the stories are directly from BFM himself, while others are pulled from interviews of other co-stars/directors/family members etc. etc. There are also detailed reviews of his most famous movies, the roles he played in them, and the importance/must-see "rating" of each film he starred in. Schnakenberg also describes/debunks some of the lore surrounding the worlds best gate crasher (his infamous 1-800 number, movies he missed out on or passed up, fights with co-stars). If youre even a casual Murray fan this book should be in your shelves.

I bought this as a birthday gift for a friend, she was thrilled with the book. As other reviews mentioned, this is a fun review of Bill's work and is full of great quotes and images. Makes for a great coffee table book or a fun fan collectible.

Snippets from his life, quotes galore, facts from his various projects, pictures, and other celebrities' opinions and recollections of Bill through the years. If you're a Bill Murray fan, you'll adore it. If you're not, what the heck is wrong with you???

I was so excited to receive this as a gift from my sister who knows what a fan I am. But when I started to try to read it I realized it was a reference book at best. Just an alphabetical list of movies, people, things having to do with the actor and a short subjective paragraph on each. It was written by a fellow Bill Murray fan who knows the guy about as well as I do, and whom Murray wouldn't even give the time of day to. I do feel bad for the author, but really this is one of those books better off left unwritten. If I need a random fact on a movie Bill Murray was in or was almost in, Google does just fine for that. If you don't have anything new or interesting to say about a guy you don't even know then why oh why are you writing a book about him? I see this as a way to just capitalize on the guys name and popularity right now. Yuck...

Terrible. Don't jump on the band wagon. Save your money.

Bill Murray is an icon of film. I knew that I would enjoy any book about him. Despite his insanely funny comedy, there is also a dark side to him, and I feel that the cover reflects that duality. The book is not a memoir or even a biography. It covers much of his life without really making it his life story.

If you love Bill Murray, you will enjoy this book immensely, but you won't feel like you learned a lot about what makes him tick. That is a different type of book altogether. Still very enjoyable.

World's greatest actor? REALLY? He's not ANY kind of an actor, let alone a great one. Are you forgetting Bobby De Niro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day Lewis, Ben Kingsley, James Earl Jones, Ian McKellan, etc. You know, REAL actors! They act RINGS around Bill Murray!