How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Is the current crop of British comedy geniuses selling out?
No, not really. But you'd be forgiven for thinking so on the face of it. First, the brilliant Ricky Gervais shows up as an actor-for-hire in the just-decent "Ghost Town." Now, the similarly talented Simon Pegg takes on a similar job in "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," a movie that should have been better than it is, but isn't even as good as "Ghost Town."
What gives?
Pegg plays Sidney Young, a writer for a smart-aleck British magazine who gets hired by an American publication to help spice things up. (The film is based on Toby Young's book about working for Vanity Fair.)
Pegg is, as we have come to expect, quite funny. His Sidney is a goofy little guy whose innate charm manages to overcome a practiced rudeness.
Sidney was hired in a fit of nostalgia by Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), an editor who was a formerly kindred spirit who stuck pins in the artificially inflated world of celebrity, but has since come to see the value in a nice little nod to the marketing partners.
Of course, everyone has his price. Sidney's comes in the form of Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), a vapid starlet about whom he wants to write (and do so much more), but whose predatory publicist (Gillian Anderson) insists on approving every word of any story.
Will Sidney give in? Stick to his guns? Both? Will he wind up with Sophie, despite a hideous misadventure with her dog? Or are he and Alison (Kirsten Dunst, playing a fellow writer) meant for each other?
You know the answer to that. And there's nothing about Peter Straughan's script or Robert B. Weide's direction that makes you ever suspect otherwise.
The world of New York magazines is ripe for satire, as evidenced by the many movies that reference it -- "The Devil Wears Prada," for example. "How to Lose Friends" looks at first as if it's going to give us a peek inside that world, but eventually settles into a rote romantic comedy.
- By Bill Goodykoontz / Gannett News Service
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Rating: 2 stars ( out of four)
Cast: Simon Pegg, Megan Fox, Kirsten Dunst, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges.
Running time: 110 minutes.
Rating: R; language, some graphic nudity and brief drug material.
comedy, romantic comedy, rated r, Simon Pegg, Megan Fox, Kirsten Dunst, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges
Drinky_McGee : RE: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People More..
Run Fatboy Run was also a big pile of cinematic dookie. I think the problem that Gervais and Pegg are having is that they were much more involved in the creative process back in Britain. They are both writers. They haven't been as involved in the stuff they've done lately. I heard that Pegg is doing another movie with the people responsible for Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, so at least there's some reason to hope for something better.
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