There is a pretentious young filmmaker in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People who Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) finds particularly loathsome. He’s self-absorbed, he “thinks cinema began with Tarantino,” and Sidney wants to tear him apart in an article for his magazine. Unfortunately, that kind of biting criticism goes against the magazine’s policy of pandering to the stars and their high-powered publicists. Luckily for me, tableau is a bastion of journalistic integrity, and I am under no such restrictions. Hours after leaving the theater I am still struggling to scrounge up some strong feelings about this movie. How to Lose Friends isn’t a terrible film, but it isn’t especially impressive, either.
Sidney Young has idolized movie stars since he was a young boy, so when he is given the opportunity to work for one of the most popular magazines in the world under his hero, Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), he jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, Sidney is an enormous idiot who commits faux pas after faux pas. He quickly ruffles the feathers of his serious-minded co-worker Alison (Kirsten Dunst), and an influential publicist (Gillian Anderson). Somehow, he also draws the attention of Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), the new It Girl and star of a critically acclaimed, racy biopic about the young Mother Theresa. Sidney must decide between professional success and his principles, the writer and the starlet.
As you might expect in this fish-out-of-water story about celebrity journalism, Simon Pegg stands out from the sea of beautiful faces. Pegg is best known for his comedic collaborations with friend Nick Frost — namely, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Those films take place in an alternative universe where zombie attacks and slow-motion shootouts are the norm. How to Lose Friends is set firmly on recognizable New York asphalt, and because of that, Pegg seems a little out of place. He is just as hilarious, and he still executes over-the-top physical humor with ease, but he lacks the immediate believability that came with his previous roles. Maybe I’m just too used to him in his nerdboy action flicks, but seeing him as the love interest of attractive actresses seems like a bit of a joke.
The actresses in question are well-cast. Fox looks like a mannequin assembled by magazine photographers, and she acts like one too. Whether this is her natural state or the result of months of intense character preparation remains to be seen, but she is well-suited for the role. Dunst’s character is clichéd, but her performance makes Alison much funnier and more interesting than the writing probably deserves.
How to Lose Friends takes a few notes from The Devil Wears Prada, and like the Anne Hathaway film, it’s a mixed bag. The actors are funny but the story has been done many times before. At nearly two hours, the film is too long, but it picks up steam as it progresses. The movie is generally enjoyable, if occasionally painful, and if you’re a fan of its stars or the memoir upon which it is based, it is worth the price of a matinee ticket.
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