Book review - "Drew Barrymore" by Lucy Ellis

DB is barely 30 but she deserves a bio, having packed an awful lot of living into those years. Her rise to stardom was one of the unexpected delights of the late 90s, and it seems she's there to stay for a while. This bio isn't much of a book, being a cut and paste job complete with extensive quotes from press kits and use of hyperbole in the language (it was published in 2003 and ends with the prediction that 50 First Dates would be predictable, but Duplex sounded like a winner). But it holds interest because Drew is so fascinating. A scion of the notorious Barrymore family, Drew barely knew her father and was raised by her crazy mother. Her life fits into easy categories: (1) child star thanks to ET, followed by a series of vehicles (including Cat's Eye) (2) troubled adolesence, with declining roles and major off screen problems (mum would take her to nightclubs so they'd have something to do together, early boozing and cocaine use) (3) getting clean (4) come back as a vixen with Poison Ivy and some highly publicised off screen antics (esp bisexuality) that turned her into a Gex X poster girl (5) re-emergence as a sweet young thing(something which began when Woody Allen cast her in Everybody Says I Love You, and something Allen isn't given nearly enough credit for), rising to stardom with The Wedding Singer and a series of vehicles (6) becoming a real Hollywood player with Charlie's Angels. It's a tremendous rise - Drew's greatest achievement seems to be a gift for reinvention. This even encompasses her love life (every new one is "the first time I've ever felt this way".) She's great, a bit mad, but great and should be around for a while now.