With Morton’s style of writing, there’s a consistent thread of, ‘intelligence slipping on a banana peel.’ Readers tend to notice right away that his work has structure, ideas, actual points of view—but then it quietly undermines itself with Melville-esque tangents and unfledged scenarios. It’s not loud humor. It’s the kind that sneaks in, makes its case, and then leaves you wondering if you were just enriched or insulted.

What stands out is how much of it is rooted in real observation—particularly the human condition (as explained to him by film appreciation students). This he presents with the confidence of someone who has heard it explained twice and chosen the more convenient version.

And there’s a discipline to it that people don’t always clock at first. Even when it feels rambling, the humor is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. Reviews tend to land on the same idea: “It’s funny, yes—but also oddly thoughtful, a little intellectual, and just self-aware enough to keep you from trusting it completely.”

If you had to sum it up, you’d say he writes like someone who understands how things work and finds that deeply inconvenient.