How To Lose Friends and Alienate People

Release Date: 10.3.08


Should have been titled “How to Act Like a British Wanker and Still Make Everyone Like You”.


Beginning with the BAFTA (British Oscars) award ceremony, we are introduced to Sidney Young (Simon Pegg), a “celebrity correspondent” for the entertainment magazine Post Modern Review who has always wanted to cross that red rope defining the divide between the elite and the proletariat. In order to sneak into a V.I.P. after party he poses as the caretaker for the pig in “Babe 3”, and then once inside the hotel dresses as a server in the hopes of gaining inside information from the mouth of the stars themselves.

Hilarity ensues, with the reward of Sidney being offered a journalist position for the “I Spy” section of Sharps magazine in New York, marking him one step closer along his “journey to Shangri-La.” On the first night of his arrival, Sidney is dumped into a tiny shabby apartment, scares off all the girls on the dance floor of a local club with his Euro-style arm waving, and later managers to perfect his buffoonery (yes, that is a word) at a bar where he meets and insults Allison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) by spilling wine all over a novel she is writing by hand.

Jeff Bridges is uncanny as Clayton Harding, the editor-in-chief of Sharps magazine, complete with his shoulder-length well-groomed locks and smooth demeanor. His constant twirling of a matchbook between his fingers lends a sort of ominous tone to the character, as if there is always more going on beneath the calm surface. During their first meeting, Harding explains the “7 rooms” theory to Sidney – analogous to the 7 levels of hell? In order for Sidney to reach the 7th and most prestigious room, he would have to jump through hoops and ultimately sell his soul.

Enter the icy Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson), the publicist, who hates to be referred to as such, for the newest of the new “it” girl Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) and hottest director this side of the solar system Vincent Lepak. Eleanor promises Sidney fame and glory if he would write a puff piece on the new director, as long as she had full editorial rights. After great loss he concedes, and is skyrocketed to the .V.I.P. lifestyle.

As to be expected, threats of career ruin, followed by a period introspection and a series of epiphanies, Sidney is guided down the right path to gain truth of self and find true love, once again crossing that red rope to escape the bindings of celebrity media. La Dolce Vita is showcased as the favorite musical of Allison Olsen, and finally hits Sidney like a ton of bricks that dancing in the park truly is The Sweet Life and is all that really matters.

Rating: B+