No matter how catchy the title or how talented the actors, nothing can hide how awful a movie like "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" actually is. In between star Simon Pegg's usual antics are recurring 20-minute periods of dead jokes and stupid plot points that almost guilt the viewer into laughing out of pity for whoever thought these bits of fluff were funny.
Pegg plays Sidney Young, a journalist who dreams of reporting on A-List celebrities. He eventually gets hired by Clayton Harding (played by Jeff Bridges) the CEO of the top celebrity magazine, Sharps.
Right from the start, Young struggles while working at the magazine due to his outrageous immaturity. He's partnered with Alison Olsen (unfortunately played by Kirsten Dunst) who alternately insults him for being so naive and helps him with his career. Danny Huston plays his immediate superior, Lawrence Maddox, who is a walking cliché of the unbearable, morally corrupt boss.
Young continues to create ripples at the magazine with his off-the-wall behavior and lack of social decorum. At a party, however, he meets the vapid and beautiful Sophie Mayes (Megan Fox). The big question at the heart of the movie is whether Young will maintain his values and be true to himself, or choose to sell his soul to the industry for a chance at winning the heart of Mayes.
The film is based on Toby Young's memoir of the same name, which he wrote about his experience working at Vanity Fair in the '90s. Despite the film's realistic foundation, there are elements of the plot and Pegg's character that do not make any sense. Instead of just presenting a quirky reality, the movie forces the plot and the characters to fit within a typical movie framework. For example, Pegg's character consistently acts like a jerk, but then has moral values (probably to win over the audience) that clash with his actions and ambitions.
The script can be blamed for the failure of most scenes in the movie; it presents many jokes that are mercilessly poured on and consistently bite the dust. There are about 10 to 12 very funny moments, always with Pegg at the center or as the butt of the joke, which evokes laughter from the audience. He squeezes all the humor he can out of the otherwise dry script, but too often the gag misses and the errors are amplified by the audience's silence.
Despite his unfortunate circumstances (starring in a bad movie), Pegg does a respectable job of bringing genuine humor to the movie. First known for his role in "Spaced," a funny British TV show, Pegg became famous stateside for starring in "Shaun of the Dead" (2004), a satirical zombie movie. His next major film was "Hot Fuzz" (2007), a great spoof on cop action films, where Pegg broke away from his usual character and instead was an emotionally stunted but serious police chief. It is unfortunate that no one can stay on top forever.
In the supporting cast, Bridges as CEO Harding provides the only consistently good performance. Everyone else either plays a stylized cliché (like Huston) or is just a bad actor (Dunst). Fox does a superb job at being attractive, wearing underwear and acting dead inside -- but not much else.
Even die-hard Pegg fans would be better off skipping this film. This is a simple comedy filled with unfunny jokes that drown out all of the other potentially positive aspects.
