How to Lose Friends & Alienate People DVD Review

"How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" reviews

DVD

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-03-13 15:17:34

Rating

3/5

Provider

DVD Review

I have never encountered a film featuring Simon Pegg that has left me a little non-plussed. From his formative days on "Spaced" through to the rarely beaten entries in Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy ("Shawn of The Dead", "Hot Fuzz"), and even his cameo appearances in the likes of "Mission Impossible III", Pegg has rarely put a foot wrong in his ascent to movie stardom…until now.

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a likeable enough rip from the pages of Toby Young's infamous memoirs but it never really hits the heights demanded from such an amazingly assembled cast. With Pegg bringing the Funny there's Kirstin Dunst and the unfeasibly beautiful Megan Fox providing the aesthetic accoutrements. There's even the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges on support duty as Pegg's gruff and forlorn boss (who incidentally steals the film from under everyone when they're not looking). The main point of contention is oddly the lead himself. Pegg's Sidney Young, not quite an identikit version of Toby and his more scattershot personality, the small fry in a very big pond, comes across as an objectionable, crass half-wit for the best part of the film. And that's the point. Only anyone from the current British comedic crop could have played Young. The character just doesn't seem to fit with Pegg's natural likeability.

That's not to say that "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a total bust because that's simply not the case. There are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments as Young comes storming in to Sharpes magazine (a composite corporation standing in for Vanity Fair) with a view to rocking the boat a bit. He fancies himself as Clayton Young's (Bridges) Jackal - a younger version of the media mogul sent to mix things up. Of course it's not too long until Young gets sucked in to the system he so despises thanks to the erstwhile charms of Fox' Samantha Maes - the biggest star on the planet. For her attention Young does just about everything until he's worming his way deeper in to the 'biz'. It's only Kirstin Dunst's Alison that stands between him and being lost to the system forever.

Director Robert Weide, writer and producer of the outstanding "Curb Your Enthusiasm", is a master of self-deprecating humour veering between Young's bitterness and wacky behaviour expertly. You feel that it's his guidance that keeps everything on track and finally brings the film home - working as it does as an all-star, tragic-comic look at the celebrity machine.

Copyright © 2009.