Would-be parody of celebrity-sleaze rags gets the gong
 Simon Pegg is one of the more interesting funnymen in the movies today. Already a cult star for his parodies of the horror and action genres (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), Pegg has lately made a bid for mainstream success in the field of romantic comedy (Run, Fat Boy, Run). The Brit’s latest project is clearly designed to push him into superstar category, but a few good laughs and a high-wattage supporting cast can’t make up for the fatally unlikable characters introduced in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Based on Toby Young’s memoir of the same name, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People features Pegg as astoundingly socially inept celebrity reporter Sidney Young, who stumbles into a sweet gig with a major rag and finds his irreverence out of place amid his uptight co-workers and the self-absorbed subjects they depend on to sell magazines. Sidney uses his new job to pursue rising star Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), but he’s just too goofy to accomplish his task. Meanwhile, he also befriends Alison (Kirstin Dunst), a fellow writer who may be the right girl for him after all.
Directed by Robert B. Weide, whose work on Curb Your Enthusiasm has been commendable, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People simply doesn’t present any characters most audiences can relate to. Crass Sidney is often funny but never endearing; it is a wonder any woman at all would give him a second glance, much less beauties like Fox and Dunst.
Then again, everybody in this movie seems to be so obsessed with the cult of personality (or their own emotional baggage), it’s difficult to root for them when they do accidentally bump into what might develop as successful relationships. Jeff Bridges, Danny Huston, and Gillian Anderson pop up as Sidney’s friends and foils, but they’re all just too eccentric and unbelievably venal to make us care.
There is one moment of sublime hilarity when Sophie is cast in an incredibly wrong-headed biography of Mother Teresa. The faux trailer is great and ought to be the comic anchor in a better movie. It’s the best thing in the film—and it is also already easily available online. That being the case, there’s really no reason to spend good money on How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
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