The first time Simon Pegg came to the attention of the movie going world is when he wrote and starred in the Brilliant Shaun of The Dead. In the UK he was pretty well known long before with his TV shows such as Asylum, We Know Where You Live , Hippies and Spaced. In How to lose friends and alienate people he gets his first mainstream Hollywood role and although he is pretty good the film did not live up to my expectations.
Robert B. Weide makes his feature directorial debut with this screen adaptation of British writer Toby Young's comedic novel of the same name. When self-promoting scribe Sidney Young accepts a position as a contributing editor for iconic fashion magazine "Sharps," his subsequent attempts to ingratiate himself with both his egotistical boss, Clayton Harding, and the superficial celebrities who populate the pages of the magazine prove disastrous.
There are some very funny moments in How to lose friends and alienate people and and it's good to see a comedy that does not involve Seth Rogan or Judd Apatow but i still think director Robert B. Weide could have done so much better.
The film tries to be satirical yet lacks any teeth due to the fact that instead of the Sidney being a quick witted journo, he seems to be played as the Stereotypical clumsy Brit. I don't Blame Pegg for that because it's the directors job to get the actor to play the role the way it was meant to.
Sidney young could have been played by Hugh Grant , Ricky Gervais ,Russel Brand, Steve Coogan... The list is endless of British actors who play their characters exactly the same. It may be cute to see a bungling Brit for my friends across the pond but I'm a little fed up of it. I'm 40 and British and have never met a person like Sydney Young , or Charles ( four weddings and a funeral) or Aldous Snow( forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Having said all that i enjoyed the first hour of the film . There are some funny moments involving Jeff Bridges and Megan Fox and i especially like the scenes with the Hotel manager (Janette Scott ). There is also i great soundtrack .Things were going so well but then the one thing i was dreading happened .....the last half an hour it lost any cutting edge and it turned into a romantic Comedy. I shouldn't be surprised really , i should have guessed when i saw the underwhelming Kirsten Dunst as leading lady.
Perhaps the director should have stuck with making the awful TV Comedy "Curb your enthusiasm" ( i just don't get that show) instead of venturing into film. That way , with someone else , we may have got a great film instead of an average one .
6 out of 10
Robert B. Weide makes his feature directorial debut with this screen adaptation of British writer Toby Young's comedic novel of the same name. When self-promoting scribe Sidney Young accepts a position as a contributing editor for iconic fashion magazine "Sharps," his subsequent attempts to ingratiate himself with both his egotistical boss, Clayton Harding, and the superficial celebrities who populate the pages of the magazine prove disastrous.
There are some very funny moments in How to lose friends and alienate people and and it's good to see a comedy that does not involve Seth Rogan or Judd Apatow but i still think director Robert B. Weide could have done so much better.
The film tries to be satirical yet lacks any teeth due to the fact that instead of the Sidney being a quick witted journo, he seems to be played as the Stereotypical clumsy Brit. I don't Blame Pegg for that because it's the directors job to get the actor to play the role the way it was meant to.
Sidney young could have been played by Hugh Grant , Ricky Gervais ,Russel Brand, Steve Coogan... The list is endless of British actors who play their characters exactly the same. It may be cute to see a bungling Brit for my friends across the pond but I'm a little fed up of it. I'm 40 and British and have never met a person like Sydney Young , or Charles ( four weddings and a funeral) or Aldous Snow( forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Having said all that i enjoyed the first hour of the film . There are some funny moments involving Jeff Bridges and Megan Fox and i especially like the scenes with the Hotel manager (Janette Scott ). There is also i great soundtrack .Things were going so well but then the one thing i was dreading happened .....the last half an hour it lost any cutting edge and it turned into a romantic Comedy. I shouldn't be surprised really , i should have guessed when i saw the underwhelming Kirsten Dunst as leading lady.
Perhaps the director should have stuck with making the awful TV Comedy "Curb your enthusiasm" ( i just don't get that show) instead of venturing into film. That way , with someone else , we may have got a great film instead of an average one .
6 out of 10