HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLEMain Players: Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, et al.
Calling the shots: Robert B. Weide
Running time: 110mins
What's it about? A British journo gets an opportunity of a life time to cross the pond to New York City to work for a trendy magazine. He soon learns that in order to move up in this world he needs to break out of his carefree, tell it like is ways. But are the opportunities that lie ahead enough to go against his beliefs? Oh, there’s a rom-com element in there too…
What did I think? Based on the memoirs of a real life British Journo who made the trek back in the 1990s, at its best it is absolutely hilarious. But down to the very core, it’s a stock standard romantic comedy with a script that is not sharp enough and a plot that is too predictable to hold its ends up.
Sidney Young (Pegg) is a doofus or a twat (as the Brits would say). The things he does and continues to get away with is baffling; although it is pretty funny. He should be a character that is easily unlikeable but the fish out of water element and Pegg’s performance makes him hard to hate. He has a charismatic touch that is undeniable, which helps the movie.
The rest of the cast are cast fairly well. Kirsten Dunst is in cruise control as the love interest, never stepping out of her comfort zone. Jeff Bridges is an enigmatic figure, Gillian Anderson and Danny Huston are great as well. Megan Fox, last seen in ‘Transformers’, is smokin’ hot! Nuff Said there.
The story is laggy. You know what’s going to happen, so you almost want it to get there already. There are numerous funny moments but they are spaced out too much. While the romantic comedy side of things isn’t terrible, it almost feels like it takes away from what it wants to be.
This movie apparently bombed in the US and I don’t think it’s hard to see why. It has a lot of potential but doesn’t seem to deliever. Good for a few laughs and definitely a step up from Pegg’s last Hollywood(-ish) effort (‘Run Fatboy, Run’) but fans of his earlier stuff (‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’) will be disappointed.
2.5 out of 5.
1 comment:
Yeah, I saw it as well. I agree with your comments, especially the part about it almost leaping into the dangerous territory of a Romantic Comedy towards the end there.
It was a good movie though and made me laugh a fair bit, although many moments were quite crude, especially the scene in the office with the stripper - so pumped up and then such a let down.
Anyway, coming from a Journalist student I guess it meant more to be as I've studied the media a lot and even been with them in person over the past 5 years. Writing is something I aspire to get in to some day.
I'm going to link to your blog from mine since it pretty much sums up my thoughts.
Catch you around.
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