How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)

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".

Director:

Robert B. Weide

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay), Toby Young (book)

Stars:

Kelan Pannell, Simon Pegg, Megan Fox

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kelan Pannell	...	Young Sidney
Janette Scott	...	Sidney's Mother
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
James Corden	...	Post Modern Review Staff
Fenella Woolgar	...	Post Modern Review Staff
Chris O'Dowd	...	Post Modern Review Staff

Storyline

Sidney Young is a disillusioned intellectual who both adores and despises the world of celebrity, fame and glamor. His alternative magazine, "Post Modern Review", pokes fun at the media obsessed stars and bucks trends, and so when Young is offered a job at the diametrically opposed conservative New York based "Sharps" magazine it's something of a shock! It seems "Sharps" editor Clayton Harding is amused by Young's disruption of a post-BAFTA party with a pig posing as Babe. Thus begins Sidney's descent into success - his gradual move from derided outsider to confidante of starlet Sophie Maes. Initially helping him out at Sharps is colleague Alison Olsen, who has her own secret. Wither their friendship?

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Plot Keywords:

writer | pig | starlet | celebrity | party | 

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Taglines:

He's across the pond, and out of his depth

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United Kingdom] Official site [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Comment perdre ses amis et se mettre tout le monde à dos

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,154,607 (UK) (3 October 2008)

Gross:

$2,775,593 (USA) (5 December 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Number 9 Films, Film4, Intandem Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film makes several references to the Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski. Sydney accidentally calls Mrs Kowalski "Mrs Lebowski". Also, Maddox is identified by drinking White Russians, the drink of choice for The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges in "The Big Lebowski". Also, Simon Pegg called Jeff Bridges 'dude' at one point, and Jeff Bridges claimed, "I'm not 'the Dude'".

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Goofs

At the stately home, when Sydney says, 'Do you want another drink?' and she says, 'Yeah, I'll have a half of lager,' he gets up and touches her on the shoulder, with his fingers pointing down the front of her dress. In the next shot, with his hand still on her shoulder, his fingers are now pointing down her back.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

References Full Metal Jacket (1987)

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Soundtracks

"I Get Around (Van She Dub)"
Written by Dan Kurtz (uncredited) and Martina Sorbara (uncredited)
Performed by Dragonette
Courtesy of Mercury Records (London) Ltd
Under license from Universal Music Operations
Publishing Copyright Control

User Reviews

Why does the ginger guy always get the girl?

This is not a movie you can think about, nor analyse too much. In fact if you think about it, you start thinking about the bad things which are many. But if you don't think too hard, it's actually quite enjoyable. Simon Pegg is the central character, a brash tasteless English reporter who somehow finds himself on the payroll of a plush New York magazine. His questionable journalistic methods spark dislike and controversy at every turn. He develops a love-hate relationship with a colleague, Kirsten Dunst who is great at playing the soulful, unfulfilled woman. She is cast in contrast to Megan Fox, a neurotic rising starlet. Personally I can understand why our hero is able to resist Megan Fox's obvious charms, and falls for Kirsten instead. We know that Kirsten has her demons, but this seems to strengthen her performances. Having said that, her role here is not terribly demanding.

The movie also features cameos by Jeff Bridges in a rather fetching wig, a cynically manipulative Gillian Anderson, and nice Bill Paterson as Simon's philosopher dad. The wonderful Miriam Margolyes is criminally under-employed. The humour is generated by Pegg's almost wilfully English crassness - offset against the glamour and sophistication of New York's glitterati. After a romantic disappointment, our hero takes a couple of left turns and ends up on the moral low ground instead of the high ground. Though now highly successful, he knows he has sold out. Only an unseemly brawl at an award ceremony, involving his mother's ring, can set him back on the path of righteousness and true love.

Well, it's predictable and unconvincing in equal measure, but we seem to buy into the typical Pegg story – the inept loser who becomes some kind of local hero, through a series of bizarre events. In fact Pegg is one of a pantheon of British actors who excel at this sort of archetypal storyline (Steve Coogan, Rowan Atkinson). He did it superbly in "Shaun of the Dead", less well in "Hot Fuzz". I liked "Run fatboy run" and I'm going to put this one on a level below that one, because the humour is so fitful and the ending so poor.