Based off Toby Young’s book, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is the story of a magazine editor from the UK coming to New York to work for a more successful company. Sidney Young, played by Simon Pegg, definitely isn’t your classic “charming” Brit like a Colin Firth or a Hugh Grant. He’s loud, crass and offensive. He seems to have a knack for saying the wrong things at the wrong time and taking the party to a “whole notha level” and embarrassing himself to no end.
Clayton Harding, played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges, started the magazine Sidney came from and we get the hint he might see a little of himself in Sidney. He does a wonderful job playing the hard nosed boss who gives interesting advice and rarely passes up a chance to put his employees in their places. Rounding out the cast are a lot of recognizable faces including: Gillian Anderson, Thandie Newton, Danny Huston, Miriam Margolyes, and Kirsten Dunst.
This is another one of those movies that received raves reviews from some and awful reviews from others. While I wouldn’t say this movie is going to win any awards, it’s kind of like how Sydney describes Con Air as being the best film ever. There are a lot of good elements, hilarious scenes, and it’s just plain fun to watch. Pegg’s character is a bit grating and not very likable. I think the film makers were banking on Pegg just being so likable that he would counter-act the character he was playing. I think that might work if you’re already a fan of the guy and know some of his previous work. Overall, Sidney doesn’t really have any epiphanies or have any major change. He just is who he is. Part of this is probably sticking to the original source material.
One aspect I really loved were the Lebowski references in the film. Watching the “making of” featurette Jeff Bridges mentions being good friends with the director, Robert Weide. At one point Sydney mistaking calls his landlord “Mrs. Lebowski” while mispronouncing her name. In another scene Sydney calls his boss, played by Jeff Bridges, “dude” to which Harding replies, “I am not the dude.” It was also great seeing two actors, Chris Dowd and Katherine Parkinson, from a British show I just started watching, The IT Crowd.
This is definitely something to check out if you’re a fan of the actors in this. I wouldn’t say you absolutely have to rush out and rent it for tonight though. I enjoyed this much more than Pegg’s last film I saw, Run Fatboy Run, and Bridges gets much more screen time than in Iron Man. Be aware of the R-rating though. After seeing Watchmen yesterday and watching a fanboy father bring in his three, under the age of 13, children in, I’ve once again become aware of the importance of not sitting children down in front of inappropriate material.
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