loading...
How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
2008
A British writer struggles to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young's memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People". Read more
| Starring | Megan Fox, Kirsten Dunst, Simon Pegg, Jeff Bridges |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert B. Weide |
| Genres | Audio Descriptive, Comedy, Romance |
loading...
How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
A British writer struggles to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young's memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People".
| Starring | Megan Fox, Kirsten Dunst, Simon Pegg, Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson, Danny Huston, Margo Stilley |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert B. Weide |
| Studio | PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 50 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 50 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Hot Hits, 100 Most Wanted |
| Genres | Audio Descriptive, Comedy, Romance |
| Language | English, English Audio Descriptive |
| Released | DVD: 16 Mar 2009 Blu-ray: 16 Mar 2009 Production year: 2008 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Critics' reviews
View all -
I’m tempted to say that the quickest way to lose friends and alienate people would be to recommend this movie… But that would be a cheap shot. It’s not that bad. It’s just a... read more »
- LOVEFiLM
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
75 out of 87 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Sounds good
Billed as a 'testosterone laced The Devil Wears Prada', Toby Young's sardonic memoir of his time tackling the glossy magazine scene in New York, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People is directed by 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' director Bob Weide
According to director Bob Weide, once he took on How To Lose Friends And Alienate People he was asked how he planned to make the central character, Sidney Young, likeable. Drawing on British journalist Toby Young's autobiographical best seller, Young is 'greedy, pushy and cynical, a balding hack on the make.' The answer Bob Weide gave, 'Two words: Simon Pegg.'
In the adaptation, Sidney Young works in London editing the 'Post Modern Review', a witty, intellectual publication that simultaneously derides and is fascinated by celebrity. He is then hired by Clayton Harding to work on Sharp's magazine, after the editor is impressed by Young's disruption of a post-BAFTA party with a pig posing as Babe. He becomes close to a rising starlet, Sophie Maes, but falls for colleague Alison Olsen. Over the course of the book, a drunken Toby Young affronts Mel Gibson at the 'Vanity Fair' Oscars party, asks a strippergram to the magazine's offices on 'Bring Your Daughter To Work Day', and takes cocaine with Damien Hirst on a ruined photo shoot: it remains to be seen which - if any - of these notorious stories make it into the film.
Weide is the director of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', the acclaimed American television series that stars Larry David as himself - that is, a semi-retired multi-millionaire. The show is partly-improvised and filmed in the style of a documentary. David's character is socially inept, neurotic and thwarted by events he is ill-equipped to handle. Weide has also directed a number of documentaries on renegade comedians, including Lenny Bruce: Swear To Tell The Truth and The Marx Brothers In A Nutshell. The script for How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, written by the Brit Peter Straughan, was pitched to Weide by his agent as a 'modernized Ealing comedy'. 'The Sunday Times' described the book as, 'The longest self-deprecating joke' since the complete works of Woody Allen.' -
Most recent members' review
View all -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Cheesy but funny
I am a big fan of Pegg though the last couple of films mildly disappointed - I would consider this a return to form. Some genuinely funny moments - his drunk acting in front of the telly was superb - and Megan Fox in her skimpies!
A tale of naked ambition of a British journo going to NY and facing a culture clash which forces him to sell his soul to suck up and party with the beautiful people.
The ending is embarrasingly cheesy but overall I enjoyed it and would recommend for Pegg fans.
-
- robsheehan from London
- Posted 18 Mar 2009 10:44
-
News and features
View all
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People tops UK box office
- 08 Oct 2008
Simon Pegg's new comedy How To Lose Friends And Alienate People has gone straight to the top of the UK box office during its first week on release. The movie is based on the autobiography of British journalist Toby Young, which documents his time working for Vanity Fair magazine in New York. Helmed by Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert Weide, Pegg stars as a fictionalised version of Young in the film, which has already raked in some £1.15 million to top the chart. New Action thriller... Read more
-
Image gallery
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 4
-
-
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 20
Related user collection
50% from 4 members
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
-
-
- How To Lose Friends And Alienate People - BLU-RAY Version
- Blu-Ray: £7.93
Free Delivery - RRP £24.49 (you save: 68%)
Names may have been changed to protect the innocent--and the not-so innocent--but this comedy adapts Toby Young's biting memoir about his struggles as a Vanity Fair employee. Brilliant Brit Simon ... -
-
-
- How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
- DVD: £5.43
Free Delivery - RRP £19.79 (you save: 73%)
A British writer struggles to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young's memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People".... -