How To Lose Friends And Alienate People (DVD)

~ Brace Yourselves America ~

Last night after a long and very bad day we decided to sit down and watch a good comedy to get us laughing again. After the day I had I was looking forward to just relaxing and watching something quite light hearted and I didn’t have to concentrate too much on. Luckily that morning I received – How to Loose Friends and Alienate People through the post from love film and thought this would be perfect. I choose this film a while ago and reserved it before it was released as I am a huge fan of Simon Pegg and I like all of his movies. After seeing the trailers on TV I defiantly had to see it even if it was rubbish, Simon Pegg always makes me laugh. I hadn’t really heard much about the film before I watched it so I didn’t have a lot of expectation just that it had to be funny. I wasn’t aware of what the plot line was about and just knew it had good comedy and there were a few great actors/actresses that came up which was a good point too. Anyway, the film was released last October and has only just come out on DVD. It is a romantic comedy which is my mum’s favourite genre so if I get any of those she instantly chooses them over anything else I get through. I really like these kinds of films which make you laugh at stupid things and within a few minutes I was forgetting about my horrible day. I did initially want to go and see this at the local cinema when it first came out but knowing the prices of the cinema’s today I waited for the DVD which doesn’t actually take very long and a film can be out on DVD in four months.

Another reason why I choose this film to add to my list was because even though it is filmed mostly in America and has American actors Simon Pegg is English and it evolved around an English guy making it in America. There are great references to the relationship of the two countries and some humour on accents and behaviour as sometimes his weird, humour is blamed on him being English. I also liked the fact that Simon shows a lot of Sarcasm in the film which no one gets and I have heard that sarcasm is very English and that American’s do not understand this well? Not sure how true this is so any American’s who want to help me on that then send me a message, be good to know. INFO

Director- Robert B Weide

I didn’t recognise this director’s name so didn’t really know much about other films he had done. When I researched him it shows that he has done a lot of different productions and also producers a lot of work. He has worked on a lot of TV and to be honest hasn’t really directed many films that are recognisable so this was his first big movie. A thing I found interesting was even though Robert directed this film he actually acts in it too being one of the party guests in the background which I thought was quite unusual.

Writers- Peter Straughan and Toby Young
Music by- David Arnold
Release Date- 3 October 2008 (UK)
Runtime- 110 Mins
Certificate- 15
Distributed - Channel Four Films (UK) and Paramount Pictures (US).

PLOT

Sydney Young is a low time English Journalist who tries to make his own magazine and surprisingly gets hired by a top, successful American Magazine company. He moves to NYC to start his new top career and lifestyle amongst the main people who run the most respected magazine in the world. Sydney finds it hard to fit in though; he is used to doing things in a different way. He is sarcastic, rude and doesn’t bow down to celebrities which make him unpopular at the office straight away. He starts to feel lonely as no one gets his comedy and his behaviour gets worse. He finds creative and utterly hilarious ways to annoy everyone around him but his dream job will be taken away if he doesn’t start fitting in. CAST Simon Pegg – Sydney Young

As mentioned Sydney is British and comes to NYC to start a big career. He is rude, quite immature and has a very dry sense of humour. The protagonist is a very likeable character from the start. Even though I am a fan of Simon those who don’t know him find the character easy to follow and feel involved with. Sydney even though can be rude and sometimes crude, is just really funny and he is a great symbol of how two cultures are very different. I really liked this character and really felt for him when things go wrong and he is feeling down.
Simon Pegg is a brilliant actor and is properly my favourite comedy actor to date. He has a fantastic sense of humour and I always spend my time laughing at him all the way through any film he is in. Simon Pegg is an award winning British actor, writer and comedian. Even though he moved to London to be a stand up comedian he made his big break in TV series Spaced which he won an award in. Simon became known when he starred in his first comedy film- ‘Shaun of the Dead’ in 2004.

Kirsten Dunst - Alison Olsen

Alison also works for Sharpe’s magazine and is given the job of showing Sydney the ropes after they become acquainted in a bar the night before which Sydney doesn’t give off a great impression. He is an intelligent woman and is currently as well as dealing with the magazine is writing her own novel. Alison is the main female protagonist and love interest. I quite liked her character too. She finds Sydney utterly arrogant and rude but she is really successful and knows her stuff.
Kirsten is a very well known and respected actress and I quite like many films she appears in. I like the way that she stars in films now and then and before this I can’t remember the last film I saw her in but every role is done with perfection. Other productions of hers include- ‘Spiderman 1, 2, 3 and 4 which comes out in a few years, Wimbledon in 2004 and Elizabethan town in 2005. Megan Fox – Sophie Maes

Sophie is a young, beautiful uprising actress in America and Sydney falls for her instantly. Everyone wants to be around her and fighting to write a story about her in the magazine. The air head celebrity is naïve and knows she can get whatever she wants and use everyone she wants.
Megan Fox is a very good actress and has only become known in the last few years. She made her debut in the film ‘Transformers’ in 2007 where she became famous for her work even though she has been acting in US series as a child and teenager. Since 2007 she has been involved in other great films and is currently filming more than 3 films for the next two years.

Other characters

Danny Huston – Lawrence Maddox
Gillian Anderson – Eleanor Johnson
Jeff Bridges – Clayton Harding
Hannah Waddingham – Elizabeth Maddox
Margo Stilley – Ingrid
Miriam Margolyes – Mrs Kowalski

OPINIONS

Filming and Locations

The filming of the movie was of good standard and the film had a good pace to it. There were many different locations to keep it interesting and even though it was filmed mainly in New York it has both elements of British and American features which I liked. The different scenes of the dull office, lively night life of NYC, film awards, parties and cities were a good combination. There were a few British actors who acted as American’s which some did well but others were shown to me as not being a very believable American, some of the accents were bad. Obviously being a comedy film there were no special effects or anything. The filming was smooth and fast when appropriate. The directed only known for television work does pull off the bright look of the film but there were a lot of meaningless boring parts and I thought the start was really slow moving. It also included many dull scenes which ok us Brits are used to but it was over used and could have had a few more bright scenes.

Themes and PlotThe storyline was simple and really good. There was the main story of Sydney trying to make himself in NYC which is clear and easy to follow. The sub plots are shown well and do not over complicate the film at all. There are relationship plots and family values shown. The film had many themes shown which I think were quite important as morals to the audience.
- Family. The film portrays as family being the most important part of someone’s life. Even though they may not choose the right decisions sometimes family comes back to them in the end. The film also shows families as being dysfunctional which is very realistic for the audience today. There were single parents, divorce and affairs shown which is apparent today and people can relate to.
- Relationships. I like the way relationships were suggested as being different and not easy. Sydney even though of his weird sense of humour finds it hard to connect with anyone.
- Beliefs. This was also shown and I liked the way that Sydney has his own beliefs which he followed. He did not want to just follow everyone else and thought that his own mind should be what he writes about. It just shows that everyone is entitled to their own values and opinions.

The script has everything involved and the plot is just crammed with humour, brilliant scenes and meaningful values. One part of the story I did really like was the growing connection between Sydney and Alison. Event though it is very predictable it was a nice easy flowing sub plot which had a few stalls and twists. Alison when she meets Sydney first at a bar thinks he is a moron and cannot stand him. Over time we see that she grows to like him as she shows him the ropes. It seems to me as even though she cannot stand his behaviour she finds herself liking his personality the more insane his behaviour. I think Simon Pegg and Kirsten act very well together.

Acting and Comedy

The film included brilliant comedy and I found myself laughing all the way through. The start was abit slow but when it got going the comedy was over flowing with different ideas. Simon Pegg is an out standing comedian and I find his humour very like mine, dry and sarcastic. He portrays a great British comedian and I related to his humour in many ways. There were many laugh out loud moments and I was not disappointed in any part of the movie. Pegg does an amazing performance as usual and the protagonist is a great character. Much of his humour is shown in the film as being misunderstood and he doesn’t find himself living amongst the rich and snobby people. There are good stereotypes in the film especially thinking of Sophie as a leading uprising star. She has the annoying squeaky accent, tight clothing and the ultimate little Chihuahua dog in her bag.
All of the other actors were good. Kirsten again plays the right part and her role is greatly shown. Alison is a very mixed character and she plays the intelligent yet sweet and sensitive woman very well. Megan Fox Acts well and her character Sophie is stunning, so a good eye candy for the male watchers. Her accent in this is abit annoying although she is meant to speak like an air head actresses with a soft yet squeaky voice. Overall I thought the acting was of a good standard and Simon has done yet another successful role. I think the right cast was picked for these parts and the two leading characters worked well together. Extra

The film is a 15 which I think is a good rating for it. Even though it includes some crude humour and some nudity it is not over the top but I wouldn’t let anyone under this age watch it. There are a few drug references, sexual scenes are frequent and Simon does swear quite abit, which for me was part of his good humour but some may find it annoying.

Overall

A brilliant fun comedy with some great characters a simple easy going plot which made me laugh throughout. I really enjoyed watching it and will properly see it again. It is defiantly worth a renting out if you like Simon Pegg’s other films or just want something easy going to watch.
Thanks for reading blackmagicstar4- also published on Dooyoo.