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Journalist Sidney Young is desperate to make a name for himself. So when Clayton Harding, the editor of New York celebrity bible Sharp's Magazine offers him a job, it seems like a dream come true. Sidney accepts the job and Clayton advises him to impress everyone he meets if he wants to succeed. But Sidney only seems capable of annoying and insulting everyone that crosses his path, including fellow writer Alison Olsen, his senior colleague Lawrence Maddox and high-powered publicist Eleanor Johnson. His saving graces are starlet Sophie Maes, who develops an odd affection for him and Alison, who may be the only person stopping him from completely destroying his career.
Director Robert B Weide is best known for his work on television series "Curb Your Enthusiasm" but as with many helmers that hail from TV, he has difficulty parlaying his success from one medium to another. His project doesn't have wide enough scope to work on the big screen. The visuals are bright and shiny but it's obvious in most of the film that Britain is masquerading for the United States. There are too many grey skies and drizzly days and British actors with laboured American accents for it to be otherwise. Interiors look like sets and the sliding fades between scenes feel like a throwback. He does well at conveying how awestruck Sidney is with New York but then uses a load of anonymous locations that undermine the sense of place. He tries to make Sidney's new world
look suitably starry, but most big names appear in the background in what appears to be stock footage and a cameo from Thandie Newton feels shoe-horned in. There is no real sense of how desperate the main protagonist is to be successful and rub shoulders with celebrities. The opening voice-over narration about how he always saw stars as better than everyone feels clumsy. We also don't see enough of his rise to prominence once he's decided to play the game - the whole kit and caboodle is summed up in a single montage that stops us feeling for the character.
But what really damages the film is poor timing. Weide struggles to set up jokes, pre-empting them so you can see what's coming and making punch-lines predictable. Some sharper editing would have made them far punchier. The slapstick is poorly accomplished, mainly because it isn't harsh enough. There is also some crucial miscasting; the central pairing doesn't work because there isn't enough chemistry between them, making it impossible to root for them to get together. As a result, the movie feels overlong at a hundred-and-eleven minutes.
The screenplay by "Sixty Six" scribe Peter Straughan is based on the novel by the same name. The book chronicles Young's disastrous residency at "Vanity Fair" magazine that was characterised by its satirical view of the business and personalities involved. But this version goes too far into fiction so players are caricatures and too much is made of various incidents. The satire fails because it is toothless and doesn't tell us anything new (starlets are dim and publicists control the media). The majority of the gags are so old they could be carbon dated (such as the joke involving Sophie's dog). Sidney is unbearably crass and doesn't have enough redeeming features to make him attractive to Alison or anyone else. She meanwhile is a stock feisty young career woman with a fragile inner core. Lawrence Maddox is a shameless, duplicitous egotist, Sophie Maes is a vapid dimwit, young director Vincent Lepak is a pretentious moron who believes his own hype and Eleanor is a cold-hearted career bitch. The dialogue has its moments but there aren't enough of them. The high point is when Alison says "I don't mean to be rude Sidney, but what the f*** do you want?"
Simon Pegg was the reason I went to see this film, even though the trailer didn't make it look very good. Sadly he's miscast as Sidney Young. He's at his best when playing lovable losers, but Sidney just isn't that likeable. He's a cross between a bland everyman and a crass, rude slapstick stooge. Pegg can play any of these types of role but the transitions between the different facets of the character are often graceless and the actor isn't allowed to let his own charm shine through. He also lacks chemistry with both his love interests.
Kirsten Dunst plays Alison Olsen as a harder character than most roles she essays. She's still sparky, but she's more sarcastic than quirky and though she comes across as professional she feels a little too young to have got to where she is career-wise.
Jeff Bridges doesn't get enough screen-time to develop the character of Clayton Harding; leaving the impression of someone who is sharp but laconic. Danny Huston is two-dimensional as duplicitous editor Lawrence Maddox. He's very good at playing a slick, smug, condescending hypocrite, but there isn't much going on beneath the surface. Gillian Anderson plays publicist Eleanor Johnson as an archetypal power-hungry super-bitch with a cut-glass British accent. Megan Fox is perhaps a little too good at playing dumb as starlet du jour Sophie Maes. Also look out for Miriam Margoyles sporting another of her patented chewy accents as Sidney's landlady, Bill Paterson as his father and James Corden and Fenella Woolgar in blink-and-you'll-miss-them roles.
The original music by David Arnold is more traditional than his usual funk-themed scores. There are plenty of rising harps, chimes and strings, chiming piano motifs and sweeping strings. There are flashes of his earlier work in the spy movie themes he uses for Sidney sneaking into a showbiz party and 70s-style brass for his first day at work in New York. But there's nothing new here. The other soundtrack choices include a rock version of "What a Wonderful World", lots of cheesy dance for various nightclubs and a grab-bag of popular tracks including Scissor Sisters' "I Don't Feel Like Dancing", Guillemots, Duffy and "With Every Heartbeat" by Robyn. It works contextually but some of the choices are overly literal.
"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a limp attempt at satire that is hampered by pedestrian direction, hackneyed writing and bland performances. It is neither as funny nor as cutting as it could be and brings nothing new to the genre. The aspects of romantic-comedy are wasted on a central pairing without any perceptible sexual tension. I was particularly disappointed by Simon Pegg, who seems to be consistently underperforming throughout. It might be worth a punt on the small screen where its lack of scope may be less noticeable, but I wouldn't pay to see it again.
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Names may have been changed to protect the innocent--and the not-so innocent--but this ... more
comedy adapts Toby Young's biting memoir about his struggles as a Vanity Fair employee. Brilliant Brit Simon Pegg (HOT FUZZ) stars as Young's alter ego, while Jeff B...
In 1995 high-flying British journalist Toby Young left London for New York to become a ... more
contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Other Brits had taken Manhattan - Alistair Cooke Tina Brown Anna Wintour - so why couldn't he? Surely it would only be a matt...
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Names may have been changed to protect the innocent and the not so innocent but this ... more
comedy adapts Toby Young's biting memoir about his struggles as a Vanity Fair employee. Brilliant Brit Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz) stars as Young's alter ego, while Jeff Bri...
Jan 1st, 2009
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