How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
(2008)Based on the memoirs of British journalist Toby Young, this comedy stars Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) as a disillusioned intellectual who both adores and despises the world of celebrity, fame and glamour.... More
He gets a job at high-profile New York magazine Sharps, amuses his new editor Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), becomes a confidante of starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), and begins a love affair with colleage Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst).Hide
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Directed by Robert B. Weide
Starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson, Danny Huston, Megan Fox
Written by Peter Straughan (based on the memoir by Toby Young)
Flicks Review
BY Andreas Heinemann Flicks Writer
Simon Pegg stars as Sidney, a rambunctious Brit looking to make it rich and famous stateside and soon lands an entry level job at a swanky magazine. His editor (Jeff Bridges) gives him a peek into the high-flying world of the elite and Sidney is hooked. The only problem is that he'll have tone down his in your face personality and learn how to climb the corporate ladder. It's a pretty good comic set up, but instead of going for the barbed satire that it seems to promise, it reverts back to the standard rom-com formula. The movie can't bring itself to really have a go at the glitzy media world because it seems enamoured with it. So instead it does the nice thing, complete with tepid romantic sub plot.
It's Pegg's most conventional role so far with the least chance to express his individual talents, but he still provides a few big laughs. Jeff Bridges is great as the cranky editor and the movie needed more of him on screen to cut through the treacle. It's a perfectly acceptable date movie I guess, too nice to be actively bad. In fact, How To Lose Friends and Alienate People is as probably as good a masculinized version of The Devil Wears Prada as you're ever likely to see. Take that for what you will.
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How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
The Press Reviews
36%
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Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
The putrid showbiz comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People appears to hit DEFCON 5 in mistaking its brand of moral laxity for cutesy irreverence. Full Review
The crushingly unfunny and slopped-together <strong>How to Lose Friends & Alienate People</strong> has neither the ambition nor the intelligence to do justice to its source material. Full Review
There are some very funny lines thanks to Young's sharp, blunt and honest English wit - however, this film isn't, unfortunately, the biting satire it could have been. Full Review
When Pegg is breaking protocols with his uniquely ballsy aplomb, dancing like a doofus or doing battle with Venetian blinds, the film almost flies. Full Review
A sharp-witted satire of celebrity journalism. Full Review
1/2 Ultimately, How To Lose Friends and Alienate People lets itself down with toothless writing, and some join-the-dots direction. Full Review
Cleverly titled but noxious British comedy. Full Review
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