I always though making friends was the hard part. I’ve never really had a problem with trying to lose friends, let alone alienating them in the process. Yet director Robert B. Weide seems to think we need a “how to” guide on this social process and he’s dragged British funny-man Simon Pegg into the lead role to take us through each step. However, Weide’s guide is quite a mess; its clichéd premise struggles to find its niche, romantic sub-plot lacks any chemistry and, most disappointingly, it’s habitually humourless. Ultimately, when attempting to guide us through the process of losing friends and alienating people, Wiede has accidentally alienated the audience instead.
Small-time British journalist Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) aspires of being amongst the rich and famous, so much so that he regularly crashes award show after parties just to get a taste of the finer life. When magazine mogul Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges) notices Sidney sardonic writings, seeing his young self in the untainted celebrity writer, he hires him to work for his award winning magazine in New York. Like a fish floundering in the desert, Sidney struggles to slip into the high-class society that comes with the job. Most aware of his incompetence is fellow writer Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst), whom is forced to put up with the obnoxious Brit as she quickly becomes his only contact in the office. However, Sideny soon realises that in order to live amongst the rich and famous he has to start to play by their rules and suck up to those in power, such as publicist Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson) and her sexy but dim-witted star client, Sophie Maes (Megan Fox). Ultimately, he must choose between staying true to his journalistic integrity and telling it like it is or becoming just another “hack” who tells it like those at the top want it to be told.
Fox living up to her name.
The alienating begins with Simon Pegg’s portrayal of Sidney Young, whom happens to be the most unlikeable character I’ve seen all year. I felt like slapping some sense into him when he showed up to his ritzy new job wearing a loud shirt that has “Young Dumb and Full of Come” plastered on it. It’s not funny, it’s just irritating. Fast forward 60 minutes and we are supposed to believe that this same buffoon is capable of being the love interest to Kirsten Dunst and the toy boy to Megan Fox. No, just no. Usually, Pegg is quite capable of producing a bumbling, lazy and obnoxious character that ultimately appeals to the loser inside us all. But here he completely misses the mark and forgets that he’s trying to appeal to the audience at some point. It might be worth noting that How to Lose Friends is the first film Pegg has starred in where he hasn’t written the screenplay, so maybe he’s not to blame. Whatever the case, Sidney’s transformation from loser to lover is so rapid and unbelievable that it ultimately takes away from any of the comedy that tries to occur around him.
Or maybe it simply masks the fact that there is a distinctive lack of humour. Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, despite its flaws, proved that Hollywood is a society brimming with potential satire. After all, nearly every Joe and his dog knows the people and stories that make up the Hollywood culture, so it’s hard not to find comic material that nearly everyone can “get”. However, How To Lose Friends plays it far too safe and frequently misses so many opportunities for satire, leaving it up to the slapstick antics of Pegg to provide infrequent chuckles. Admittedly, Pegg does deliver some laughs; a scene involving a transvestite stripper and another concerning the demise of a feeble pooch spring to mind. Also, the stereotypical Hollywood caricatures on display are somewhat amusing; from the completely self indulged big-shot director to the aging star still desperate for attention. Of most prominence is Megan Fox as Sophie Maes, a Chihuahua-in-handbag actress whom no one really seems to care is a complete moron because she is the epitome of sex appeal. However, these characters only exist on screen when in the presence of Sidney, forcing them to take a backseat to Pegg’s obnoxious antics that are all to often not the least bit enjoyable.
The films most enjoyable scenes are when Pegg gets put in his place.
If we try and forget that the film is labeled as a “comedy” and focus on the “romantic” subplot, does How To Lose Friends fare any better? In a word, no. Just like Sidney’s miraculous character transformation, the romantic subplot must have formed in-between each scene, as I certainly didn’t catch a moment of chemistry between Kirsten Dunst and Simon Pegg. Dunst just floats through the film, portraying a run-of-the-mill love interest that she must have picked up from the set of Spider-man. That being said Dusnt’s portrayal, along with Jeff Bridges enjoyable performance as the stern but jaded magazine head Clayton Harding, does provide the film with a desperately needed likable character.
Conclusion:
Robert Weide’s feature debut “alienates” in spades; a scarcity of humour exists amongst a narrative that spends too much time revolving around an unlikeable protagonist. Although, given that this is exactly what the film title proclaims it will teach you how to do, one might consider the film a success. I, on the other hand, do not.
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