How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

R

Released Oct 3, 2008

1 hr. 49 min.

Comedy

List

37%

114 Reviews

Tomatometer

42%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine "Sharps", and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.

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Critics Consensus

A decent performance from Pegg in a disappointing film. Neither sharp nor satirical, Weide's adaptation relies too heavily on slapstick, and misses the point of the source material in the process.

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Archer S

A charming romantic comedy. Simon Pegg is excellent as a crusty, cynical Brit trying to make it as a celebrity journalist in New York City, as is the rest of the supporting cast in this satire of the world of celebrity journalism. A great date night movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/04/24

Full Review

Vaughan C

How to Lose Credibility & Alienate an Audience. Everyone in the cast seems to be in on the joke but nobody knows what it is. So they pretend. Avoid at all costs.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/19/23

Full Review

kevin t

This movie seemed like it might be interesting at first. A kind of "The Devil Wears Prada" type movie. One that could be really good, well acted, well written, and fascinating even for people that have no interest in the subject matter (ie celebrity or fashion). But, this movie falls flat & is disappointing. I haven't read the book, but I feel like, maybe the book is interesting and they just left all the interesting stuff out of the movie. There are blatant commercials in this movie (although most movies do this). Simon Pegg's character does nothing clever the whole movie, nor writes anything amazing or does anything innovative or clever or funny or rebellious. He decides very easily to ignore his morals, just cos some girl he likes is dating someone else. Except, this "romance" comes out of nowhere. They don't build up this so called romance. The couple have almost no chemistry together. They start disliking each other, then for some reason just keep talking anyway, she goes to his house drunk, suddenly they kinda like each other. He hates some other guy at work but there is no real indication why. They don't have some long going competitiveness or screwing each other over. He doesn't seem particularly bad so Simon Pegg would hate him that much. It feels like they just wrote what is going to happen in the movie on one sheet of paper and then just made up the rest while filming adding all the typical romance tropes but not doing them well. Its all disjointed, nothing goes well together, there is no soul, no feeling, no emotion.. you dont care about any of the characters. Simon gets together with Kirsten at the end for no apparent reason. There is no struggle to get her, no things going wrong, no obstacles in his way other than he cant book a flight straight away, he has to wait a few hours. OH NO!!! Its badly written & boring. I was expecting Simon Pegg to convince Jeff Bridges to go back to his old style of Journalism. But no. Unless I had some version of the movie that was edited down??? Maybe my version had a lot of good stuff cut out of it? Its just a dull & disappointing movie.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Ashley A

I thought this was so funny! I am shocked at the low rating. Seriously! I am glad I watched it because I found it to be hilarious. It's in my top 10 favorite comedies. Good stuff:)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Brock B

This movie was hilarious! It is one of my all-time favorites in the comedy genre. I am surprised it scored so low. I love love love this movie. I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt. If you need a good laugh, I recommend this movie. I am truly surprised that more people did not enjoy it. I will have to admit, that every time I watch it I catch something I missed before. So basically, it keeps getting better:)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Huge Chrome P

Another mediocre film in Simon Peggs ever growing filmography. It seems like Simon Pegg is the only one that can utilize his many talents effectively these days, Robert Weidse certainly can't.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

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Robert B. Weide

Director

Simon Pegg

Sidney Young

Kirsten Dunst

Alison Olsen

Danny Huston

Lawrence Maddox

Gillian Anderson

Eleanor Johnson

Megan Fox

Sophie Maes

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Deborah Ross

The Spectator

This is a fun movie but... it yaps around the ankles of its subject without ever moving in for a decent-sized, satisfying bite.

Aug 23, 2018

Full Review

Ben Mankiewicz

At the Movies

Where the movie succeeds is in its sudden right turns, its willingness to kill a dog, always a bold choice, and its consistent emphasis of the comedy over the romance.

Nov 7, 2008

Full Review

Ben Lyons

At the Movies

Just because you are supposed to laugh doesn't mean you are going to laugh.

Nov 7, 2008

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Comedies like this are rare for offering tangible characters we care about and comedy that affixes some significance to our periodic need for base humor.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 6, 2023

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Repetition is the ultimate enemy here.

Rated: 4/10

Nov 28, 2020

Full Review

Brian D. Johnson

Maclean's Magazine

You'd expect something better from Robert B. Weide.

Dec 16, 2017

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine "Sharps", and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.

Director: Robert B. Weide
Executive Producer: Tessa Ross, Paul White, Simon Fawcett, Gary Smith
Screenwriter: Peter Straughan
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Number 9 Films, Intandem Films, Film 4
Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Brief Drug Material|Language)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 3, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 21, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.8M

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