How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Fairly entertaining, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People delivers laughs but is a bit too crude for this type of romantic comedy. The story follows a British tabloid journalist who gets a job with one of New York’s premiere publishing companies, but he soon discovers that he’ll have to sell out in order to succeed. Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox, and Jeff Bridges lead the cast; though their performances are pretty mediocre. Some of the satire is rather clever, however overall it’s typical rom-com stuff. While it has its moments, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is an uneven and shallow film.

The screenplay for this movie is an obviously over-sensationalized version of the memoirs it is based on. To that end, the movie is slow starting with Sidney Young being introduced as a self-thought cutting edge, non-mainstream journalist. He comes off as a kind of bumbling idiot, though on a much smaller scale as say Steve Martin's Clouseau. There is much physical comedy with kicks to the shins and falls and a transvestite bit. Sidney is given about 25 strikes by the owner of the most popular magazine in America for some unknown reason. Then the movie takes a 5 minute let's get an Academy Award nomination break when Sydney's father shows up and lays it on pretty thick and heavy. Then back to the shenanigans. I just didn't think this flowed very well and Jeff Bridges smokes cigarettes in the most ridiculous manner. One note of interest is the soundtrack. Very well done with a beautiful version of "Spooky" by Dusty Springfield.