Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
June 25th 2009 02:51
By David O'Connell
Based on Toby Young’s bestseller about his days writing for Vanity Fair, this adaptation by debuting director Robert B. Weide turns out to be fairly tame stuff. The basic premise, of transplanting the main character, Sidney (Simon Pegg), from his lowly wannabe status in London’s entertainment hierarchy to a glamorous job writing for the New York based Sharps magazine, seems rife with fish-out-of-water possibilities, trading the objective cynicism of an outsider for laughs; undermining his unlikely rise to a view of greener pastures, however, is a weightless, incidental screenplay with all the dramatic force of a wall of marshmallows used as a battering ram.
There may be the foundations of some remote, cursory strain of truthfulness in Toby Young’s recollections but only the germs of his best ideas see the light of day, surviving scrutiny with any believable context intact. Most of the characters are cheerless fabrications, ballooned up into caricatures made more colourful and eccentric than redeemable but there’s little reason to hate, only pity, them.
Pegg is a thoroughly likable actor who can transform any nitwit into a sympathetic, mildly lovable oaf, and his misadventures whilst trying to climb the ladder to fame and fortune are endearingly comical at times. There’s nothing nasty about his motivations however, highlighting the film's most glaring downfall: it lacks any sort of hard edge to keep it viable as satire which it strains, in a mildly grovelling way, to become.
Sidney lusts after a vacuous starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) whilst falling, against his trustier instincts, for co-worker Alison (Kirsten Dunst) whose own love life is a disaster; she’s one of many who seems prone to falling under the spell of smarmy Lawrence Maddox (Danny Huston), a man harboring a strain of callous competitiveness that borders on geniality. Jeff Bridges, as magazine boss Clayton Harding, looks like he’s stepped in from another set, ranting and raging against Sidney’s incompetence, whilst solely responsible for hiring him, against all logical reasoning, in the first place.
And despite the general air of hapless ineptitude he projects, Sydney’s outlook and fortunes continue to strengthen. Rather than some ruthless world where only monsters prevail, it seems a lovingly mediocre man has a chance to make significant ground in publishing as well - directing unfavourable, ironic referrals to the film’s title it seems.
There are only vague intimations here of the cut and thrust required to reach a certain status in the industry, thwarting the opposition’s bid to reach the troughs of the elite and win their attention for fleeting nanoseconds; ultimately Peter Straughan’s screenplay boils down to the mostly fruitless exploits of a man who falls in love with the woman he can’t have. Or can he? The template of a million other movies with a like-minded modus operandi should tell the tale for anyone remotely curious.
Though amiable and over before you have a chance to truly despise it, this ultimately rates as a silly, almost miraculously pointless film and though Pegg emerges with his dignity intact, it’s a tragic waste of a decent cast in an endeavour neither they nor us will remember - or want to - a year from now.
Based on Toby Young’s bestseller about his days writing for Vanity Fair, this adaptation by debuting director Robert B. Weide turns out to be fairly tame stuff. The basic premise, of transplanting the main character, Sidney (Simon Pegg), from his lowly wannabe status in London’s entertainment hierarchy to a glamorous job writing for the New York based Sharps magazine, seems rife with fish-out-of-water possibilities, trading the objective cynicism of an outsider for laughs; undermining his unlikely rise to a view of greener pastures, however, is a weightless, incidental screenplay with all the dramatic force of a wall of marshmallows used as a battering ram.
There may be the foundations of some remote, cursory strain of truthfulness in Toby Young’s recollections but only the germs of his best ideas see the light of day, surviving scrutiny with any believable context intact. Most of the characters are cheerless fabrications, ballooned up into caricatures made more colourful and eccentric than redeemable but there’s little reason to hate, only pity, them.
Pegg is a thoroughly likable actor who can transform any nitwit into a sympathetic, mildly lovable oaf, and his misadventures whilst trying to climb the ladder to fame and fortune are endearingly comical at times. There’s nothing nasty about his motivations however, highlighting the film's most glaring downfall: it lacks any sort of hard edge to keep it viable as satire which it strains, in a mildly grovelling way, to become.
Sidney lusts after a vacuous starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) whilst falling, against his trustier instincts, for co-worker Alison (Kirsten Dunst) whose own love life is a disaster; she’s one of many who seems prone to falling under the spell of smarmy Lawrence Maddox (Danny Huston), a man harboring a strain of callous competitiveness that borders on geniality. Jeff Bridges, as magazine boss Clayton Harding, looks like he’s stepped in from another set, ranting and raging against Sidney’s incompetence, whilst solely responsible for hiring him, against all logical reasoning, in the first place.
And despite the general air of hapless ineptitude he projects, Sydney’s outlook and fortunes continue to strengthen. Rather than some ruthless world where only monsters prevail, it seems a lovingly mediocre man has a chance to make significant ground in publishing as well - directing unfavourable, ironic referrals to the film’s title it seems.
There are only vague intimations here of the cut and thrust required to reach a certain status in the industry, thwarting the opposition’s bid to reach the troughs of the elite and win their attention for fleeting nanoseconds; ultimately Peter Straughan’s screenplay boils down to the mostly fruitless exploits of a man who falls in love with the woman he can’t have. Or can he? The template of a million other movies with a like-minded modus operandi should tell the tale for anyone remotely curious.
Though amiable and over before you have a chance to truly despise it, this ultimately rates as a silly, almost miraculously pointless film and though Pegg emerges with his dignity intact, it’s a tragic waste of a decent cast in an endeavour neither they nor us will remember - or want to - a year from now.
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Journeywoman
Great Hair Style Tips
The Mama Sutra
I Dream of Hollywood
Fashion Peach
Of course, the fact that I love Kirsten Dunst, Simon Pegg and Megan Fox definitely helped. I thought Gillian Anderson was great in her role too. Overall I felt the film had a good vibe to it and was amusing in its fluffiness.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I have to agree about Gillian Anderson though, she was a nice surprise in an underwritten role.
Beside flaunting her body around, I've yet to see Megan Fox do anything else in a film yet so I'll reserve judgment on her.
Comment by Anonymous