How to Lose Friends & Alienate People 2008

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: Just because you are supposed to laugh doesn't mean you are going to laugh. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Pegg has some good obnoxious moments, but he's only a few movies away from becoming Dudley Moore. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: When a movie features two spit takes in the first 15 minutes, it's a pretty clear indicator of which way the rest of the farce will go. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: How To Lose Friends And Alienate People's title proves prophetic, only this time the people being alienated are the suckers in the paying audience. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The world of New York magazines is ripe for satire. How to Lose Friends looks at first as if it's going to give us a peek inside that world, but it eventually settles into a rote romantic comedy. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Nothing in How to Lose Friends feels fresh or on target. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Even the ginger-haired Brit can't rescue this moviefrom being both manic and flat. Nor can the deployment of Kirsten Dunst to play Sidney's nemesis and possible love interest. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People chronicles the short-but-sour New York career of the British journalist, who arrived for a stint at Vanity Fair at the invitation of its flamboyantly coiffed editor, Graydon Carter. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Unfortunately, both Bridges and Anderson are only intermittently in the movie. And when they're not around, How to Lose Friends loses its satirical edge, becoming an alarmingly safe, almost corny romantic comedy. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Toby Young's memoir makes an engaging transition to the screen, thanks to a lively adaptation that embellishes greatly on Young's story but preserves the central fish-out-of-water theme and biting commentary on celebrity obsession. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Yet another vehicle in which Simon Pegg can play yet another of the world's more obnoxious humans. And still make us love him. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: How to Lose Friends wants to see itself as a champion of humanity over glitz and a puckish puncturer of egos. But while culled from Young's disastrous experiences at Vanity Fair, the movie is strictly Us Weekly quality. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Any movie in which the hero accidentally kills a Chihuahua can't be a total loss, but How To Lose Friends & Alienate People comes pretty darned close. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: [Pegg is] a goof, and he's funny enough to warrant the price of admission. But after this and Run Fatboy Run, he really needs to deliver something sillier before he loses fans and alienates his audience. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Pomposity and foolishness abound, but the laughs are few and far between. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The film's inability to decide whether it wants to be sweet and life-affirming or vicious and nasty creates not only a disconnect on the story level but results in tonal shifts that are dizzying. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is possibly the best movie that could be made about Toby Young that isn't rated NC-17. Read more

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com: Like the characters it portrays, How to Lose Friends eventually becomes the very thing it mocks, its delectable naughtiness sacrificed to sentiment and audience appeal. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: A sharp-witted satire of celebrity journalism and has much to recommend it once you get past its unwieldy title, which sounds like something that would get slapped on a self-help book. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Despite the impersonal sameness of the material, it moves along at a good clip, rarely letting a one-note joke outstay its welcome. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It seems Weide and Pegg were determined to make good on their title How to Lose Friends& Alienate People. You can sum up their results in two words: mission accomplished. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: How to Lose is toothless, substituting broad humor and a romance for the needed cynicism. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: For a film about upholding personal ideals, its glossy packaging and derivative 'will he get the girl?' narrative sell any credibility down the river in favour of affected screwball larks. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Instead of skewering self-important stars and vapid journalists, Friends gets muddled in slapstick and crude humor. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: How to lose friends and alienate audiences is the lesson taught by this cleverly titled but noxious British comedy. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It plays like a made-for-CBS redo of The Devil Wears Prada. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: What was good enough for the printed page -- a comic chronicle of our obsession with the shallow -- has been turned into the object of its own derision. Read more