BECAUSE HE'S JEFF GOLDBLUM

A meandering unauthorized biography of Jeff Goldblum emphasizing his adorable mystique during a fraught cultural era.

Washington Post pop-culture reporter Andrews relies on keen research and an energetic voice to portray Goldblum as a self-aware avatar of social media–nourished celebrity. The actor is widely considered to be a thoughtful, decent person, and his ubiquitous smirking visage memes and pranks elevate him above other gracefully aging A-listers. “Goldblum as a subject, though, has the inherent power to make oddities go viral,” writes the author. “It seems there’s just something about Jeff Goldblum.” Andrews emphasizes the critic’s role in such contemplations of celebrity, frequently invoking his personal perspective. These digressions include footnoted callouts to his mother, interludes including Goldblum-inspired haiku, made-up interviews with his subject, and rambling meditations on Bill Murray and Christopher Walken (“A Seemingly Random Batch of Paragraphs About Bill Murray and Christopher Walken (and Sort of Warren Zevon and Randy Newman but Not Really) as a Means of Understanding Jeff Goldblum Slightly Better”). Andrews relies on earlier Goldblum interviews, conversations with childhood friends, and the work of critics like Chuck Klosterman. The author covers Goldblum’s rise as an actor, from his debut role as a sociopath in Death Wish to blockbusters like The Fly and Jurassic Park, as well as an overview of his gradual transformation into a bohemian fashionista, covering his obsession with jazz piano (which he credibly performs in concert) and his romantic life, including relationships with Geena Davis and Laura Dern. In arguing his acting has seemed blander since the millennium, the author writes, “the theory that Goldblum only tackles projects he finds artistically interesting and never falls into the trap of careerism falters a bit when considering some of his more commercial work.” While Andrews establishes that Goldblum embodies a unique brand of self-knowing celebrity, his prominent, exaggerated writer’s persona becomes tedious—though the author’s core claim may appeal to well-informed trend-spotters: “Seriously, is anyone more well liked than this dude?”

Alternately entertaining and tiresome.