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How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Author: Wyatt Sanderman Day | Published: March 4th, 2009
A Fish Out of Water Can Only Die Once...
Unless you're Simon Pegg's version of the lovable loser Sidney Young. Sidney is a tabloid reporter who has a penchant for celebrities, so much he; reports on their activities by crashing
exclusive parties, infiltrates events to seek interviews, and in his own small way aids or damages their careers with his craft. He owns his own periodical in London: somewhat like People Magazine meets National Lampoon. His professional life is not going so well.As Sidney drifts lower, he is pulled back up from the bottom by super media mogul Clayton Harding, played by the resilient and talented Jeff Bridges, who offers him a job in New York. In New York; the player have changed, the rules have changed, his position as to his pecking order in the proverbial big pond has changed, but one thing hasn't changed. Be it London or New York, Sidney is still a detached screw-up - a veritable fish out of water. Regardless of the situation, Sidney winds up the "odd duck."
A symptom to his flawless approach to his anti-social behavior is his refreshing sense of honesty and aversion to pretension. Paradoxically, an infatuated Sidney actually wishes that he could, "live in a world of just celebrities, like a Shangri-La." The conflict here is that celebrities often live in a world of superlative fluff, where reality is a relative commodity. Ironically Sidney is the guy you want to enjoy a pint with down at the corner pub. He's one of us. The resolution to this story is Sidney journey to discover that he is one of us - not them. If you buy into this story, as I did, you'll find a floating barge full of laughs.
Simon Pegg is not a comedian, he is an actor. His avocation as an actor, along with finding himself in good projects with well written stories, is his strength. Actor Pegg has been in few movies, but the comedies that he has headlined have been successes: "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Run Fatboy Run." His unaffected and relaxed manner in presenting his near manic characters is the catalyst to his success. Now we can include "How to Lose Friends" to his list of solid comedies.
The other characters, that interact with Pegg's Sidney Young, are well cast for this comedic romp. Kirsten Dunst, as his reluctant workmate
and eventual friend Alison Olsen, does her usual good job as the regular girl seeking some shred of integrity in her world. Danny Huston, son of the late, great John Huston, was pitch perfect as the media executive, Lawrence Maddox, who had only known the privilege of marrying well. Gillian Anderson as the motivated publicist, Eleanor Johnson, for actress Sophie Maes, portrayed by Megan Fox, round out the cast. Director Robert Weide, who has labored in the vineyard as director for Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," moved the film briskly to its conclusion, and at 110 minutes did not waste the of time of any of the folks that viewed the film with me. We all well enjoyed it, and I give it 3 1/4 stars for the effort.
Released on DVD February 17, 2009. Rated R.
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