How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my selections below you can now add High School Musical 3, Flash of Genius, Religulous, and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People to your queue.

Changeling
If you're trying to catch all the Oscar-nominated performances before the big night, now's your chance to see Angelina in her award-worthy role in Changeling. Here's the Netflix plot description in case you forgot: "Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) is overjoyed when her young kidnapped son Walter is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the Walter who was returned to her isn't her actual child, the police captain (Jeffrey Donovan) has her committed to an asylum. John Malkovich co-stars as the crusading reverend who comes to Christine's rescue in this gripping, 1920s-set drama helmed by ace director Clint Eastwood."

I'm glad to see they dispensed of that creepy movie poster for the DVD cover. Extras include featurettes titled "Partners in Crime: Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie" and "The Common Thread: Angelina Jolie Becomes Christine Collins."

Two more up next, so read more

It’s hard to care too much about someone as obnoxious as Sidney Young, the main character of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, played by Simon Pegg. Having a main character as unlikable as Sidney is one of the key things that doesn't work in it. There are some things that do work — a few funny bits, some great comedic performances — but they don't quite make up for the experience of watching the movie as a whole, which ends up being just kinda "meh."

The character of Sidney Young is based on the real Toby Young, who wrote the memoir on which this movie is based. In the film, Sidney is a cynical British writer who is obsessed with the notion of celebrity while simultaneously finding it ridiculous. He puts out a magazine in England called Post Modern Review, full of snarky pieces about famous people. Amused by this, Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), editor of Sharps magazine in New York offers Sidney a job and the bumbling, uncouth Sidney sets off for glamorous New York. Once at Sharps, however, Sidney discovers that he's expected to write only "safe" celebrity profiles, and that his sarcasm and brutal honesty are unacceptable. Thus, Sidney struggles to succeed at Sharps — as a writer, but also as a boorish guy in a glamorous magazine world — without relinquishing his identity altogether. Of course, there's a love story tossed in, too, so for more on that and everything else, read more

"Based on the true story of a real idiot."

The teaser for How to Lose Friends and Alienate People was kinda "meh" and the international trailer was downright odd. Now we have the "official" trailer for us Americans who are curious about this movie starring Simon Pegg, Megan Fox, Jeff Bridges, and Kirsten Dunst, and I have to say it is definitely an improvement. I didn't necessarily laugh at any of the moments that are supposed to be funny, but at least I can figure out what to expect from this film.

Based on the true-life story of author Toby Young, the movie looks a touch forced. Still, I adore Simon Pegg (who I recently got to interview — stay tuned for that!) and want to keep an open mind until it opens October 3.

To check out the trailer, read more

Just as author Toby Young has finished giving us his "man's take" on the Sex and the City movie — a bitter little piece in which Young calls the SATC New York a "pre-feminist society" where "[w]omen are second-class citizens who are expected to use their youth and beauty as commodities in order to secure their economic wellbeing" by marrying rich men — the international trailer has hit the Web for the film version of Young's memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

Clearly, Young loves to do just that — provoke and provoke until, yes, he alienates people. It's not so much that I disagree wholeheartedly with his assessment of the SATC world, but I do take issue with his claim that "the notion that girls like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda will always be there for each other, no matter what the cost — is a sentimental myth." Is he a woman? Does he have any true insight into female relationships, among "golddigging" New Yorkers or otherwise? No.

Anyway, the international trailer for How to Lose Friends and Alienate People looks no better than the teaser trailer did, and as much as I love Simon Pegg, I just don't feel all that inclined to watch this film about a writer who unwittingly finds himself caught up within a world of glamour and celebrity. Especially since, from the movie's description it sounds like this main character, Sidney Young (Simon Pegg, playing Toby Young's "character") fancies himself above, well, everyone else in the world. What's enjoyable about watching someone like that?

To see the trailer — warning: there is one moment of NSFW language — read more

While I love pretty much anything Simon Pegg does or says, and I seriously cannot wait for the Spring US release of Run, Fat Boy, Run, the teaser trailer for his next comedy How to Lose Friends and Alienate People leaves much to be desired. Based on Toby Young's 2003 memoir, the movie's plot description is this:

Sidney Young is a disillusioned intellectual who both adores and despises the world of celebrity, fame, and glamour. His alternative magazine, Post Modern Review, pokes fun at the media-obsessed stars and bucks trends, so when Young is offered a job at the conservative, New York-based Sharps magazine, it's something of a shock! Thus begins Sidney's descent into success — his gradual move from derided outsider to confidante of starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) — and a love affair with colleague Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) that will either make him or break him.

I look forward to a full trailer for the movie since this little 45-second one is pretty unsatisfying. To see the trailer for yourself and share your thoughts, read more

Now that the promotion machine that was Spider-Man 3 is over Kirsten can turn her focus to those smaller budget projects that she loves to do. At the moment she's busy shooting How to Lose Friends and Alienate People in London. It's based on Toby Young's memoir that chronicles his failed effort to make it at Vanity Fair. Kirsten plays an editor who has an affair with the lead character, played by Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz). I enjoyed the book but I am not expecting this film to turn out like The Devil Wears Prada.

Bauer-Griffin