I should have known by the crap subtitle. 'Reel Life'?, that is poor. I had caught bits of Kermode before this on the Culture Show, some radio, a doc on 'The Wicker Man', in which he spoke passionately and knowledgeably. So I perceived him as an erudite film critic. In this book, though, Kermode does his best to make himself appear as a clown; 'a mouthy, know-nothing upstart' he says. But I don't buy it. It's not how he comes across on TV, so the ceaseless self-deprecation seems forced and annoying. Did his knees really buckle when he met Helen Mirren? I can't believe it. Was his first radio appearance so bad that his mother couldn't bring herself to speak of it? Again, I doubt it, as he goes on to note that they gave him a regular slot. Kermode says 'if I say something happened, it may be that it only happened in the rancid popcorn-filled cinema in my head'. It is clear that many of the farcical episodes related here didn't happened as described. So I'm not sure what's the point.