The controversial comic actress addresses her critics but leaves more questions than answers
Olivia Munn may be most infamous for being the subject of a high-profile tiff between the blog Jezebel and the writers of The Daily Show. When the comic/actress was hired as a writer for the show, Jezebel protested that the hire was based more on Munn’s sex appeal and less on her talent or intellect, which female writers of The Daily Show protested and Tina Fey spoofed in an episode of 30 Rock. But aside from that controversy, who is Munn?
According to her book Suck it, Wonder Woman, she’s simultaneously a geeky down-to-earth “real”-bodied girl observing the absurdities of the entertainment industry who at the same time poses for the cover of Playboy and puts on a sexy maid’s outfit to entertain the viewers of G4′s video-game-centric program Attack of the Show. She’s a woman who thinks of herself a role model to young girls with self-esteem problems, but who has no problem looking back at the young girls who teased her in middle school and calling them the c-word. Munn’s book, a hodgepodge of blind-item stories of misadventures in Hollywood and unasked-for raunchy sex advice, doesn’t paint a clear picture of who should be reading this book and why: is it her Star Wars obsessed fanboys or gals looking to hear some sassy, dirty straight talk? One section of the book sticks out, as Munn sadly tells the tale of watching her grandmother die shortly after the two had a disagreement. That section of the book offers real and wrenching humanity and honesty: It’s too bad the rest of it is so glib and insubstantial.