 How
to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a
comedy film based upon British writer Toby Young's 2001
memoir of the same name. The film will follow a similar
storyline, about his five year struggle to make it in the United
States after employment at Vanity Fair magazine — though
the names of the magazine and people Young came into contact
with during the time were changed for the film adaptation. The
film version is a highly fictionalized account, and differs
greatly from the work it was built upon.
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How to Lose Friends & Alienate People Reviewed by Mark Haines |
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How to Lose Friends &
Alienate People is a romantic comedy that excels with two cast members.
A British writer Sidney Young, played by Simon Pegg, attempts to
fit in at a New York based celebrity magazine that is the essence of
everything he loathes. Simon attempts to change the magazine, but in the end it
changes him. Or does it? As in first rate romantic comedies, the secret admiration is revealed early on and the tension revolves around when and how the central characters will reveal their love for each other. In How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Sidney has to submit to writing celebrity fluff pieces at a magazine that is meant to be Vanity Fair. Finally Sidney realizes that he has become a tragic disappointment to himself and gets it together.
Simon Pegg is an exceptional British character actor and while his wit and unnerving charm (you just cant figure out why you like him) are perfect for the part of Sidney, virtually every other actor in the movie is a complete bore. Gillian Anderson, Megan Fox and Jeff Bridges put in adequate performances at best. A stellar scene happens early in the movie when Megan Fox' character takes off her shoes and crosses a pool by walking through it in designer garb. The problem is any beautiful woman could have made that scene work, Ms. Fox brought nothing to the role other than her beauty. It was like watching the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition come to life. Danny Huston, who plays Lawrence Maddox, the complication in the relationship between Sidney and the girl he has his eye on is absolutely horrendous. He brought nothing new to his performance; he's simply the same person in every part he plays. While Simon is fumbling around chasing after a beautiful actress whose real motivation is to have someone to use and abuse, he loses sight of his real love, Alison Olsen, Played by Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten's performance is the other bright spot among these mediocre actors and quite possibly the person that saved the movie from being rated two stars. Although this role was not as challenging as Marie Antoinette or even Mary Jane Watson in Spider Man, Kirsten's performance was nonetheless brilliant. Finally, while the movie is loosely based on Toby Young's memoir of the same name, it's really up to the director to give the storyline some sense of cohesion. When you finally believe that Sidney is not going to give in and submit to the demands of his sell your soul boss, he flips a switch and suddenly is the antithesis of himself. The transition could have been a little easier to swallow. Five more minutes developing that evolution of his character and the storyline would have been greatly enhanced. All of that said, if you're a sucker for romantic comedies you'll more than likely walk out of the theater satisfied and you might even see How to Lose Friends and Alienate People again when it comes out on DVD. Go see it opening week.
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It
will be directed by Robert B. Weide and star Simon
Pegg as Sidney Young, Kirsten Dunst as
Alison Olsen, Jeff Bridges as Clayton Harding,
Danny Huston as Lawrence Maddox, Gillian
Anderson as Eleanor Johnson, and Megan Fox as
Sophie Maes. The cast also includes Max Minghella
and Margo Stilley. How to Lose Friends And Alienate
People is currently in post-production with a release date in
both the United States and United Kingdom on October 3, 2008.
The theme song, sung by Duffy, is called Enough Love and was
written by Richard J. Parfitt of 60ft Dolls and
Owen Powell of Catatonia.