Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage author chronicles Cruise's film career, including his first role in "Endless Love" in 1981, his breakthrough in "Risky Business", and other popular films such as "Top Gun", "Jerry Maguire" and the "" films. He cites Cruise's role as "Frank Mackey" in the film "Magnolia" as one of his best performances. Johnstone also writes about Cruise's relationships with Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, and the luxurious lifestyle maintained by Cruise and Kidman during their relationship. Johnstone puts Kidman in a sympathetic light regarding their 2001 divorce. The book discusses Cruise's relationship with Scientology, and controversy in the media, including his public
Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage in the book. He criticized the work for being "incurious about what it is like" to be Tom Cruise. In his review in "The Independent", William Cook described the tone of the book as "respectful not reverential". Cook also wrote: "Johnstone's businesslike biog feels as if written at arm's length - but this distance allows him to state some awkward facts about Cruise's Scientology. It's hard to believe he could have been quite so frank in an authorised biography." The book received a critical review in "The West Australian", and a review in Australia's "The Daily Telegraph" thought the book