How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)

Director:

Robert B. Weide

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay)
Toby Young (book)

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Brace yourselves, America.

Plot:

A British writer struggles to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young's memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People".

Plot Keywords:

Party | Writer | Starlet | Celebrity | Pig

Cast

Kelan Pannell	...	Young Sidney Young
Janette Scott	...	Mrs. Young
Simon Pegg	...	Sidney Young
Megan Fox	...	Sophie Maes
Gillian Anderson	...	Eleanor Johnson
Kelly Jo Charge	...	Apollo Awards Presenter
Christian Smith	...	Apollo Awards Guest
Katherine Parkinson	...	PR Woman
Felicity Montagu	...	Clipboard Nazi
Thandie Newton	...	Herself
John Lightbody	...	Assistant Hotel Manager
Ian Bonar	...	Post Modern Review Staff #1
James Corden	...	Post Modern Review Staff #2
Fenella Woolgar	...	Post Modern Review Staff #3
Chris O'Dowd	...	Post Modern Review Staff #4

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug material.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | USA:R | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:16 | New Zealand:M | Germany:o.Al. | Czech Republic:U | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-13 | Mexico:B15 | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Café de Paris, Coventry Street, Soho, London, England, UK

Company:

Number 9 Films

Trivia:

Simon Pegg was approached to play the role of Young back in 2004 for a stage version, but this conflicted with shooting on Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At the stately home, the band resumes playing after Sidney Young falls off the top of the stage's wooden frame. In a following shot facing the band, the keyboardist removes his right playing hand from the keyboard placing it in his lap with his left hand prior to the last keyboard chord being played.

Quotes:

Sidney Young: [to his father] You thought Brad Pitt was a cave in Yorkshire.

Movie Connections:

References "The Love Boat" (1977)

Soundtrack:

Drinks Taste Better When They're Free

Great fun, absorbing and thought provoking. Plenty of fascinating characters.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that How to Lose Friends and Alienate People was nowhere near as 'gross-out' a comedy as the trailer had led me to expect. I rapidly became absorbed in the unfolding of the narrative and remained engrossed throughout. Pacing of the more visual humorous content was, I thought, spot on. (I mean I got the impression I was witnessing Pegg's attempts at restoring lost control very much 'in real time', so to speak.) At other moments there was time allowed to share the main protagonists' (i.e. Pegg's and Dunst's) reflection on how events were affecting them and what had led them to where they now found themselves. All the characters were well cast, to some extent interesting in and of themselves, and generally quite likable. (Any apparent ruthless ambition displayed tended to be tempered by a corresponding good natured resilience.) An entertaining, intelligently scripted, brilliantly directed and superbly acted film that I would thoroughly recommend.