Name that Movie! Romantic Comedy/Drama and Thrilling Your Friends: A Novel Review

"Name that Movie!" is not a completely painless "vocabulary builder," (Leaf) as some of the rare words such as insouciant, tumescent puzzled this reader. Brian Leaf's 240 page novel does create for an interesting time, however. Leaf has been involved in private teaching for over eighteen years and his knowledge of rare words is exceptional. Also, the integration of higher comprehension words with movie trivia is a style that keeps the novel's pages turning. "Name that Movie! A Painless Vocabulary Builder" is also a book for those looking to increase their knowledge base, or for those looking for challenging movie quotes. The duality of this novel is unique to this book reviewer and a welcomed challenge.

Centrally, "Name that Movie!" will begin with a series of ten groups. Within each one of these groupings is a movie quote and a series of definitions. Your job, if you pick up the challenge, is to identify the movie from which the quote belongs and to identify terms of bold faced words. For example: "I just can't believe we're both here. Must be fate. No, what do they call it? Kismet" (Leaf). Now, identify the film quoted here and also define Kismet. If you guessed "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and fate, then, you are destined for higher scholarly pursuits and popularity. At the end of each series of ten groups there is a further quiz, which requires matching. There are three groups of matching exercises and each tests your mental knowledge in differing ways. So, what of the ease of the material?

Leaf has educated students on the SAT, or the Scholastic Aptitude Test for several years. This is a grueling test for aspiring American college students, but, thankfully, not used in Canada. So, the writing here is for a first year college student and even higher. This reviewer is an English Major; yet, many of the definitions were utterly confounding. On the other hand, the movie trivia quotes are a little on the lighter side and the excerpts are taken from mainstream films such as "Bridget Jones' Diary," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Sex and the City" etc. Some lines will stand out as obvious, while others feel like a thorn in the side. Your degree of proficiency in this section will depend on your film knowledge.

Brian Leaf has created a fun and challenging set of books with his "Name that Movie!" series. The novel reviewed here was from the Romantic Comedy and Drama genres. There are multiple categories to choose from. Pick up this book to test your friends, or to increase your general knowledge of film and words. An introduction to over a 1000 "enigmatic" and "abtruse" (Leaf) terms is sure to at least make you hit at your next film themed party.

Overall: 8 out of 10.

More on this book and others can be found at author Brian Leaf's website:

Brian Leaf Official Website