Autobuyography: A cautionary tale about bad car deals

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school slapstick and watching people suffer through bad decisions, Autobuyography is a quick, painless watch. It’s not going to change your life, but it’s got that frantic energy you don’t see much anymore. If you hate physical comedy or think black-and-white shorts are just boring history lessons, skip it.

Leon Errol is basically the king of looking confused while everything goes wrong around him. In this one, he’s convinced that buying this new car is his big ticket to being someone important. We all know that feeling, right? That weird, desperate hope that buying *the thing* will finally make everything else click into place.

The car is the real villain here

The car starts falling apart almost immediately. It’s not just a flat tire or a dead battery; the thing practically disintegrates in his hands. There’s a specific bit where a door handle just comes off, and he stares at it like it’s a personal insult from the universe. Classic.

• The way the steering wheel just keeps spinning is hilarious.
• Dorothea Wolbert looks genuinely tired of his nonsense, which is a vibe.
• The pacing is frantic, almost like it’s trying to beat the car to the junkyard.

It reminds me a bit of the chaos in Alice's Three Bad Eggs, where everything that can go wrong absolutely does. You’re just waiting for the next piece of metal to snap off. It doesn't have the grand scale of Café Elektric, but it isn't trying to be that kind of movie either.

There's a moment near the end where Leon just gives up and lets the car do its own thing. I’ve been there. Sometimes you just have to laugh when the engine light comes on for the fifth time in a week. It’s funny because it’s true, even if the car in the movie looks like it’s held together by pure hope and string.

I wish the ending had a bit more punch, but honestly? It ends right when it starts to feel like the joke might run out of gas. 🚗💨