How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)

Director:

Robert B. Weide

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay)
Toby Young (book)

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Brace yourselves, America.

Plot:

A British writer struggles to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young's memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People".

Plot Keywords:

Party | Writer | Starlet | Celebrity | Pig

Cast

Kelan Pannell	...	Young Sidney Young
Janette Scott	...	Mrs. Young
Simon Pegg	...	Sidney Young
Megan Fox	...	Sophie Maes
Gillian Anderson	...	Eleanor Johnson
Kelly Jo Charge	...	Apollo Awards Presenter
Christian Smith	...	Apollo Awards Guest
Katherine Parkinson	...	PR Woman
Felicity Montagu	...	Clipboard Nazi
Thandie Newton	...	Herself
John Lightbody	...	Assistant Hotel Manager
Ian Bonar	...	Post Modern Review Staff #1
James Corden	...	Post Modern Review Staff #2
Fenella Woolgar	...	Post Modern Review Staff #3
Chris O'Dowd	...	Post Modern Review Staff #4

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug material.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | USA:R | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:16 | New Zealand:M | Germany:o.Al. | Czech Republic:U | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-13 | Mexico:B15 | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Café de Paris, Coventry Street, Soho, London, England, UK

Company:

Number 9 Films

Trivia:

More Lewbowski references: The character played by Kirsten Dunst comes from Port Huron, Michigan. In The Big Lebowski (1998), the Dude is the co-author of the radical Port Huron Statement from the 1960s.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: A printed interview with Sophie Maes says "psychophants" instead of "sycophants."

Quotes:

Sidney Young: [to his father] You thought Brad Pitt was a cave in Yorkshire.

Movie Connections:

References Troy (2004)

Soundtrack:

For Reasons Unknown

Does exactly what it says on the tin

How To Lose Friends And Alienate People looked like it might be different to the average rom-com we get these days, it looked like it was going to be a smart and satirical look at mainstream Hollywood. It isn't and it wasn't. It's in exactly the same vein as Run Fat Boy Run. I'm not saying that it's a bad film because it isn't and neither is Run Fat Boy Run, but I just felt like I'd seen it all before.

The start was rushed and lacked that flowing feeling. The middle was the best part, with a couple of laugh out loud moments. The end was a walking cliché which came straight from the school of Cameron Crowe (once again not always a bad thing).

Simon Pegg stuck to his normal schtick when he's without Mr. Wright and Mr.Frost, playing the lovable but overall clumsy fish out of water Brit. Jeff Bridges was and still is The Dude so he can do no wrong. Kirsten Dunst stuck to her guns and Megan Fox was thrown in as the so hot at the moment crumpet.

An entertaining film. Not bad. Not great either.