How to lose friends and alienate people
Year of release : 2008
Run time : 1h55min
Genre : Comedy
Cast : Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox, Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson
The movie is adapted from "How to lose friends and alienate people: A memoir" written by Toby Young and published in 2001,about his failure to make it in the USA as a contributing editor to Vanity Fair.
Sidney Young is a man who writes a magazine in which he's making fun of celebrities because he wants to be one of them.
He is pretty much a mess,as he always gets in these ridiculous situations due to what he does or wears,and puts people off.
His first encounter with Alison is at a bar,while she's waiting for her boyfriend,and he is taking his chair,trying to hit on a beautiful girl who would only go for him if he was famous .
His first encounter with his boss, at Sharp's magazine in New York,who saw his English publication and was impressed,is not a good one,as he comes in with a vulgar t-shirt on,offering him one too!
His landlord,an old Polish woman, keeps on "catching" him at bad moments in his life,like when he brings home a girl of whom he doesn't know is trans,or when he brings home a drunk Alison,whom he tries to make sure arrives home unharmed.
He gets infatuated with the star of the moment, Sophie Maes,an actress played by Megan Fox,and does his best to be with her.
The celebrities are vain,like in the director's case, and stupid,like in Sophie's case,and are only interested in you as long as you make them feel good,as they're not popular anymore,and they have no one to talk to,like in the case of the old actress Sidney was a fan of.
Although,at first he refuses Sophie's publicist's offer to write for a young director,because he finds him fake and full of himself,in the end,realizing the publicist is the one who opens doors for people who want in,into the industry,he accepts to write a hit piece for the director,a hit piece the publicist has to approve.
Although the firs impression,or the second,is not a good one,Sidney gets under your skin,as underneath all that nonsense is a good guy.
The movie is pretty entertaining,it has the romance,the star chasing..it's funny at times and mostly embarrassing for the lead who is a human trainwreck.
The actors were all fine, I personally liked Gillian Anderson's character,I liked how she portrayed her.
Viewer discretion is advised ,as the movie has some vulgar language and images,and has nudity,including frontal.
The movie is streaming on Hoopla, Netflix, and for free with ads on Pluto Tv, The Roku Channel, Tubi Tv.
Rating : Two stars and a half leaning towards Worth a watch !