How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 110
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 70
A decent performance from Pegg in a disappointing film. Neither sharp nor satirical, Weide's adaptation relies too heavily on slapstick, and misses the point of the source material in the process.
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 23
A decent performance from Pegg in a disappointing film. Neither sharp nor satirical, Weide's adaptation relies too heavily on slapstick, and misses the point of the source material in the process.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 47,841
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Movie Info
Frequent Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert B. Weide makes his feature directorial debut with this screen adaptation of British writer Toby Young's comedic novel of the same name. When self-promoting scribe Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) accepts a position as a contributing editor for iconic fashion magazine "Sharps," his subsequent attempts to ingratiate himself with both his egotistical boss, Clayton Harding, and the superficial celebrities who populate the pages of the magazine prove
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Cast
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Simon Pegg
Sidney Young -
Kirsten Dunst
Alison Olsen -
Jeff Bridges
Clayton Harding -
Danny Huston
Lawrence Maddox -
Gillian Anderson
Eleanor Johnson -
Megan Fox
Sophie Maes -
Max Minghella
Vincent Lepak -
Miriam Margolyes
Mrs. Kowalski -
Bill Paterson
Richard Young -
Diana Kent
Rachel Petkoff
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All Critics (116) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (72) | DVD (13)
Where the movie succeeds is in its sudden right turns, its willingness to kill a dog, always a bold choice, and its consistent emphasis of the comedy over the romance.
Top CriticJust because you are supposed to laugh doesn't mean you are going to laugh.
It plays like a made-for-CBS redo of The Devil Wears Prada.
What was good enough for the printed page -- a comic chronicle of our obsession with the shallow -- has been turned into the object of its own derision.
Instead of skewering self-important stars and vapid journalists, Friends gets muddled in slapstick and crude humor.
It seems Weide and Pegg were determined to make good on their title How to Lose Friends& Alienate People. You can sum up their results in two words: mission accomplished.
What we have is a comedy that's not that great, a romance that's not that convincing and a movie that's sadly not that special. Now that's how you lose friends and alienate people.
droseri, ana diastimata asteia, alla en genei filodoksi apopeira aythadeias me eynoyhismenes eilikrineis protheseis kai bretaniko flegma kommeno stis akres gia na horesei se amerikaniko kaloypi romenti, opoy niotheis synehos na leipoyn pragmata
A scandal sheet satire that wears its antisocial tendencies on its sleeve, the movie takes aim at the inane gossip rag media world. But more often than not avoids punishment to fit the tabloid grime, that calls for more caustic rather than giddy strokes.
Pegg is one of those actors about whom I can say things like, 'He's so funny, I would listen to him reading from the phone book,' and mean it.
There are two full-length commentaries: an informative solo one by director Robert Weide and a higher energy, conversational and funny one by Weide and star Simon Pegg.
The makings of an uncompromising, razor sharp satire were gathered together here. That the resulting movie slips off track as much as it does is particularly disappointing.
A fun movie worth checking out.
... slickly constructed and frequently funny.
I'm told that several of these characters are easily recognisable to insiders, but outside that small coterie there's still a great deal to enjoy about Sidney's fish-out-of-water exploits.
I feel I've seen a bit too much of Pegg in some not very funny films recently, but his fish out of water works well.
No bad thing, really, but a fair distance from the barbed humour of Young's book.
Audience Reviews for How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Super Reviewer
*Sophie Maes crossing the swimming pool with La Dolce Vita´s theme song palying in the background is a direct reference to the scene of Sylvia in the Fontana di Trevi. In my opinion, it is better than the original scene.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
January 4, 2009:
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