But it’s worth it to start at the beginning of Driver’s book, which is full of pithy and sharp recollections of her rebelliousness and determination. As a child, she was frustrated at her parents’ split, chafing at their new partners and seeking escape. Sometimes those escapes were metaphorical retreats into singing and acting.
In other words, she learned early to be skeptical of authority, which turned out to be excellent preparation for Hollywood. Her breakout role in the acclaimed 1995 indie film “Circle of Friends” didn’t mean she could avoid auditioning for a chocolate ad where she’s asked to fake an orgasm. She’s introduced glowingly to Al Pacino but with the wrong name. She’s consistently bemused by showbiz, not because she feels superior to it, but because it’s so often fickle, sexist and humiliating.
The fiercest writing in “Managing Expectations” is in its concluding chapter about her mother, fashion designer Gaynor Churchward, who died last year following a cancer diagnosis. Driver weaves her interactions with her mother and family with a slow-growing fury at the noise the rain makes on the hospital’s plastic skylight, “the gentrified tarpaulin they thought fit to serve as a roof.”
Driver’s memoir isn’t filled with much in the way of celebrity gossip or outsize personal trauma. But it reflects an actor’s close attention to strange, exasperating, heartbreaking behavior all around her, conveyed with wit and poise.
I've been looking for that song that Minnie Driver sings I think it's about a frog. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I can't find it anywhere.