Review: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)

[dnb at dca.net]

HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2008 David N. Butterworth

*1/2 (out of ****)


     It must be a lot easier to star in a bad comedy than to write a
good one.

     That's what Simon Pegg has opted to do in "How to Lose Friends &
Alienate People," a film that bears the prophetic tagline "Brace
yourself, America."  It's Simon Pegg Gone Hollywood, or The Great Pegg
Sell-Out of 2008, a film that confirms what his previous picture "Run,
Fatboy, Run" woefully hinted at, that you can lead a Pegg across water
but that relocation alone doesn't necessarily keep him funny.

     Pegg was brilliant both in front of and (as co-writer) behind the
camera in his first two homegrown forays, the sublime "Shaun of the
Dead" and the buddy cop comedy "Hot Fuzz."  But then the lure of America
beckoned...  Pegg managed, albeit barely, to rise above "'Fatboy'"'s
material but he's unable to do so here, largely because the material is
so obvious, so clichÃ(c)d.

     Cue the opening first-person narration, with its "no, that
good-looking bloke's not me.  *That's* me," and the inevitable "but
things havenâeTMt always been this way..." flashback.  Then there's the
"rube in the Big Apple" sequence that makes absolutely no sense given
that Pegg's character is a British journalist of some years who's no
doubt actually *been* in the West End let alone heard of it.  And the
cute little animal that comes to a sticky end?  A prerequisite of these
pictures, apparently.  And the prostitute that turns out to be a man? 
Ditto.

     And let's not forget the montage of West Coast sights and
sounds--LAX (?), Sepulveda Blvd. (??), a Hyatt hotel (???)--that craps
out after half a dozen quick-cut images, like they ran out of ideas,
money, or both midway through the shoot.

     Although based on the memoirs of one Toby Young and his
scandal-sheet experiences at "Vanity Fair" magazine, "How to Lose
Friends & Alienate People" borrows generously and shamelessly from other
cultural fish-out-of-water comedies, the kind in which our hapless
protagonist (here a "Post Modern Review"-er named Sydney) dreams of the
good life only to realize, once he secures it, that the life he could
have had all along offers a great deal more.

     HTLF&IP is not only poorly written but amateurishly directed (the
first thing director Robert Weide should have done was fire Peter
Straughan the screenwriter for producing what is, in the words of Jeff
Bridges's "'Devil Wears Prada"-styled publishing mogul Clayton Harding,
"simply not good enough").  Directing 26 episodes of "Curb Your
Enthusiasm" clearly wasn't experience enough to transition Weide to the
motion picture world--the film is jaw-droppingly banal on almost every
level, highlighted by underwritten characters (like Kirsten Dunst's
under-impressed editor) and acting of the stiffest kind (Danny Huston,
playing her superior, is particularly guilty of woodenness).  In fact,
"Transformers"' Megan Fox, as a vapid, up-and-coming starlet, is one of
the few performers who doesn't embarrass herself.

     Pegg tries his best of course, with a pig, in a wig, I hope they
paid him a *lot* for this gig, but it's a losing battle.  Judging from
his recent choice of projects this likeable fool has yet to win friends
or influence the right people in Tinseltown.  Perhaps someone should let
him in on the secret of succeeding in the business without really trying.


-- 
David N. Butterworth, Film Editor
www.offoffoff.com/film | dnb at dca.net