This was a surprisingly good memoir. I watched Van Wilder and Harold and Kumar when they were released, and I vaguely knew that Penn was on House and worked for the Obama administration. Although I'm not a huge fan, I picked this up because I was curious about a person who could act in raunchy comedies and also help drive policy. It didn't disappoint. I enjoyed reading about his childhood and learning about his family, and I was really interested in his experiences as a brown actor in Hollywood. I especially liked the threads that carry through his career, including his relationship with Mira Nair and her work. I haven't watched The Namesake because I loved the book and didn't want Hollywood to ruin it. Knowing now how much thought and care was put into the making of the movie adaptation, I will have to give it a chance.

I found the parts about his time in government to be a bit boring, and the footnotes got distracting. There were too many of them with only about half being funny. Like some others mentioned, I wish he'd written more about his sexuality and his identity. He mentions feeling proud of being a role model for young South Asian kids who love the arts a lot more than STEM, but this feels like a missed opportunity to also be a role model for South Asian kids in the LGBTQ+ community.