Customer Reviews

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I missed this in the theaters, even though my girlfriend and I are huge Simon Pegg fans. Unfortunately the way it was marketed when released made me think it was a romantic comedy / follow-up to the Devil Wears Prada. I also had no idea that Simon Pegg was the film's lead (which would have been a driving factor to get me into the theater). With that said, I really enjoyed the overall feel of the film and found it far more entertaining than Run Fatboy Run, a film which didn't allow Pegg to do what he does best ... which is be damn funny.

While not in the same genre of films that Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead blazed into, this film is a nice balance between a mild romantic comedy and some stinging satire regarding the ridiculous relationship between print media and Hollywood's elite. It's definitely worth watching for Pegg's performance, and Kirsten Dunst is far more likeable here than in the latest Spider-man film, playing a more complex and human character than MJ part trois.

In regards to the low rating the film is currently seeing on Amazon, I can only say that it's disappointing the film didn't do well in theaters, but regardless of the lack of extras and tomfoolery going on with MGM's home entertainment management, it's a shame that people are rating the film so poorly. Unfortunately, if people just see the listing for this film with a paltry two stars and don't go on to read the reviews they'll miss out on a refreshing and entertaining comedy starring one of England's funniest, freshest and most talented actors.

On a side note, I'm continually impressed with the range of actor Jeff Bridges' in his portrayal of various characters in his many film roles. His turn as the villain in Iron Man was memorable and I found his portrayal of media mogul Clayton Harding to be entertaining and an excellent compliment to Pegg's hilarious Sidney Young. Definitely worth your time to rent and perhaps even own if MGM gets smart about releasing a revision of the DVD with proper extras (or how bout a Blu-ray edition MGM ... I'm sure we'd all eat that right up!)

Hi folks,

not sure what others are complaining about? My DVD has two commentaries..one by Director Weide and Simon Pegg and the other by Weide alone. There is also another 18 minute making off featurette/sharp interview feature that is very interesting. I know the UK version will probably have many more features and I may get the UK Blu-RAY as I don't think it will come out over here and Blu-rays are NOT region specific. I like the cast and very much enjoyed the movie...not Peggs best but good for him is still VERY good.

HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE

I am a huge Simon Pegg fan as most people probably are now days; come on all of his stuff has been great. I remember seeing the previews for this and thinking "all right here is his forte into mainstream movies". Now I knew that could go one of two ways, those of course being bad or good. Thankfully this while not his best film is really good and that is mainly because of Mr. Pegg himself. I know what you are saying "of course he is good in it" and I know that but I felt the need to say it, so get off my back.

The film follows an off the wall writer named Sidney Young [Pegg] as he goes from wanting to be in the "it" crowd to actually being there. The thing about it though is that what got him to the dance just might be the one thing he has to give up in order to be successful. Writing for a small magazine that trashes the stars [or at least he does] over in the UK, he is offered a job in the US by his hero in the biz Clayton Harding [Jeff Bridges]. Once there the hero he looked up to is looking more and more like a sell out and after meeting Sophie Maes [Megan Fox] he just might do the same. The only real person at least in his eyes is Alison Olsen [Kirsten Dunst], so he tends to hang around her while wanting Sophie.

This film based on a book by Toby Young is well handled under the direction of Robert Weide. The film is well paced even though it is a bit long which may be it's only down fall, the only one I guess. Written for the screen by Peter Straughan and acted out well by the entire cast this film is really entertaining. The film has laugh out loud moments but it is much more of a wittier humor or subtle type if that makes sense. Still I find the film to be very entertaining and found the cast to be real fun to watch.

Simon Pegg is excellent as the lead in this film and it was cool to see him in this type of role, in fact he should do more of these. Kirsten Dunst is great as well in this film and gives one of the better performances. Jeff Bridges is great as usual and Megan Fox does a good job as well as does the rest of the cast. Like I said this is not the best film ever and is not even Pegg's best film, but it is still a very entertaining flick. I recommend this film to any one reading this if only a rental that is fine, I bought it.

Based on the memoirs of Toby Young of a similar title. This tale follows a small time British writer (Simon Pegg) who trashes the stars and a following incident gets him invited to a big magazine run by one of his heroes (Jeff Bridges)
which then forces him to be nicer to the Hollywood celebrities. Along the way he falls for one celebrity (Megan Fox)
but seems to get far better on with a fellow female journalist (Kirsten Dunst). It's a light comedy with some funny moments but not rip roaring ones. The love story is painfully predictable but Hollywood has learned that a lot of moviegoers want it that way so it stays that way for a reason. They did a better job than I expected in showing why the main character was so caught up in getting into the "A class" crowd but sort of dropped the ball once he got into it. CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B; STORY/PLOTTING: B minus; HUMOR: B minus; SHOWS THE HOLLYWOOD SUBCULTURE WELL: B to B plus; OVERALL GRADE: B; WHEN WATCHED: early January 2012.

Let me begin by saying that I now think that movie is even funnier since it is based on Toby Young's book and his experience in NY!! His interview is in itself hilarious!

Simon Pegg has a talent for playing characters that are just clueless, somewhat out of touch with reality, with a hint of loser! He just does it very well!!! Throw that into the quick pace lifestyle of the big apple and those characteristics become even more profound!

I will have to say that I am not really a romantic comedy type person, but the comedy side of this movie far outweighs the romance! There were some laugh out loud scenes for me, like when Simon coughs with his mouth full on the lady's overcoat... even funnier that he can't leave it alone! The scene where he gets smashed at a fourth of July party and get up and starts singing `England England England' was hilarious to me... what a complete Wally! The scene with the dog in the office is funny too! But for all those who said that there were no laugh out loud scenes, what do you call the two scene with the transvestite!? Absolutely hilarious!! (especially the stripper prank!) What a wally!!

On the more serious side, Simon's character is very serious about what he does and is uncompromising and that becomes more and more obvious as the movie progresses... you find out that his character is actually deeper than you imagined!! I liked how the movie portrays Simon as a person who is unwilling to let go of his principles in the corporate rat race... I think the movie does an excellent job of capturing the struggles that most people have to go through in terms of either selling out and climbing the corporate ladder or retaining their morals and principles and staying at the bottom of the corporate food chain! I feel your pain Sydney Young!

I really liked that the movie ended with comedic closing note rather than a romantic one... to be honest it is a romantic comedy that most guys can enjoy with their significant others! Once the movie was over and I had a big smile on my face, my wife turned to me and said `SEE! You can enjoy romantic comedies!'

A very funny but meaningful movie that I enjoyed watching and I'm sure that I will watch it again!

I was half expecting Lola Heatherton (Catherine O'Hara) of SCTV fame to show up in the film trailer parody (watch the end credits) within this movie. That's how bizarre it is.

Honestly, until I watched the "making of," I had no idea this was a comedy. Simon Pegg has some funny bits--loved the Dracula scream when his fingers get caught in the power windows and the "Ingerlund, Ingerlund" drunken lout impression--but this is more a off-kilter drama with funny bits thrown in.

It cops out as as much of an entertaining tool that Pegg's character is, the typical Hollywood love story where the two who will end up together start off by hating each other is almost as if Hollywood believes adult relationships are like ones we all had in elementary school.

Other than that, this is basically "Devil Wears Prada" the male version. It's entertaining but ultimately total fluff.

DVD is junk with just a "making of" and the usual commentary tracks.

I'm not going to lie, I had little to no confidence in this movie at all. The title alone makes me want to run away and never see it BUT Simon Pegg is in it and I do love him. This movie has exceeded my expectations, granted they weren't so high in the first place, but I was thoroughly entertained by this movie. I laughed about every minute, the jokes are subtle yet very funny if you catch them. This is an American movie but with Simon Pegg in it, there were bound to be some nice british humor which was refreshing. Many gags were unexpectedly hilarious which impressed me even more. I loved that the lead isn't some extraordinary hot guy and it's just a average, moronic Joe. Which then turns to the brilliance of Simon Pegg. He can play an obnoxious jerk but still show alot of heart and emotion in his character. Kirsten Dunst did very well too which was another pleasant surprise. Megan Fox was bland though I assume that is how her character should be. Jeff Bridges was aces, and Gillian Anderson....I must say I do miss watching her. She was phenomenally blunt as a hard-nosed publicist.The story is interesting enough, and well-paced. Again this movie is not Oscar-brilliant but it is better than what it is rated now and will definitely make you laugh. Watch!!

I love this movie, its quite funny, but if you are squeamish or on the conservative side then you may not like it, anyway this review is about the actual disc i received, while my DVD play is able to play every other disc i've ever put in it before and since this dvd, it was not able to play this one, i would get an error message, and eventually i got the dvd to play on my xbox, but only once. so make sure and check that the dvd will play as soon as you get it in!

It is a rare film where the leading character can be both the only person seeing everything clearly, and a bumbling buffoon at the same time. However, "How to Lose Friends" accomplishes just that.

Simon Pegg's character starts with no balance. He doesn't buy into glitzy images. He doesn't even buy into being polite just to get along better with those around him. He does buy into taking a job with a large lifestyles magazine whose editor's earlier work holds his admiration.

The editor puts up with his gaffs and insolence, and eventually through the Peter Principle, Pegg rises right to the top of his division in the magazine. Along the way he both gains and loses everything he believes he holds dear.

In the process you get a full experience of comedy, being tested with subtle parody along with the broad jokes and pratfalls. The film is strongest in its parody, however, so if you don't tend to like strong parody in your comedies, you probably won't be lifted up much by this film.

My wife and I both found it to be hilarious, which is a pretty good test, as we don't always laugh at the same types of comedies. "How to Lose Friends" is both an intelligent comedy and a satisfying allegorical test for the hero. If you aren't sure that it will be your cup of tea, try it out on cable or a rental first.

Aw this is just a sad movie, it's just so not funny, and so predictable. The first clue that something isn't right, this is a comedy distributed by MGM.

What went wrong?
Too long: The movie is almost 2 hours long, with about 1 hour of fluff that doesn't need to exist. In fact if you fast forward from around 45 minutes into the film, to about 30 minutes remaining, you will miss nothing - no jokes, no plot line, no character development.

The Cast: Kirsten Dunst, oh how beautiful you are and how much I enjoyed you in your early films. So how did they make her look like Darlene from the Rosanne Barr Show? Jeff Bridges, never a huge fan of his work, and he is sort of likeable as the owner of the magazine, but turns in a hugely uneven performance. Simon Pegg, Simon Pegg, what happened to that insanely funny man in Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition)? I guess the trend for Simon has been downward, Run, Fatboy, Run was slightly funnier than this. Sidney Young's love interest, Sophie Maes (Megan Fox, Transformers) is supposed to be oh so hot and alluring - ouch not at all. Not attractive at all. Until the viewer understood the joke with Bobbi, she was much prettier. The rest of the supporting cast, oh my, just not good.

The soundtrack: Oh my goodness, the royalty free melodramatic string music is just horrible. What tunes do play, oh they are forgettable.

The story: so darn predictable. There's some style and intrigue in the opening sequence, the viewer knows where Sidney ends up in one year. And the majority of the film is told in flashback. Normally that is a creative device I love, in this case it was way overplayed. The twist at the end of the film, well it's just so surprising. And oh, just remember La Dolce Vita.

What went right? Most all shots were in focus and the exposure was right. The sound had almost no surround immersion except for unimportant moments, but the dialog was crystal clear.

The DVD, slim slim bonus features. Two commentary tracks. A making of featurette. All forgetable.

The film is definately R rated. There is one scene with nudity that happens to be full frontal nudity of a trans gender person. The shot of the surprise was totally unnecessary and really held much too long, along with a really sad joke afterwards. Other than that, there is a bit of language. In fact if that scene had been removed (and the film would not have suffered at all) this would be PG-13.

Not too much to recommend here. It's not bad enough to be good. Sadly Simon Pegg has gone from incredible brilliance in Hot Fuzz, to mediocrity in Run Fatboy Run, to the bottom with this movie. He can only do better in his next film.