How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: October 3, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
11
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Possibly the best movie that could be made about Toby Young that isn't rated NC-17. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
A sharp-witted satire of celebrity journalism. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
This film, directed by Curb Your Enthusiasm's Robert Weide, makes an entertaining companion piece to his book. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Feels jumbled and disorganized. It's not altogether unpalatable, but that doesn't present it from being a mess. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'Hara
Not as smart or as satirical as you might hope, but an enjoyable and often funny look at a mad, mad, mad, mad world. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Pegg has some good obnoxious moments, but he's only a few movies away from becoming Dudley Moore. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Best in show is the divine Gillian Anderson as a powerful celebrity publicist, editing the image of her clients in much the same way this adaptation tames Young's much pricklier book. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
The result is an initially hilarious picture that grows perplexingly trite as screenwriter Peter Straughan transforms Young's sly observations into assembly-line pap. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
It devolves too often into slapstick shenanigans and comedy of embarrassment. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott Bowles
Gets muddled in slapstick and crude humor. Read full review
50
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
When Pegg is breaking protocols with his uniquely ballsy aplomb, dancing like a doofus or doing battle with Venetian blinds, the film almost flies. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
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 full review
50
Film ThreatStina Chyn
Packs a full plate of gasps and giggles. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Simon Pegg is likably smart and obnoxious as the fish-out-of-water Brit in high-gloss Manhattan, but he's swimming upstream in a feature that substitutes slapstick for scathing wit. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
The putrid showbiz comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People appears to hit DEFCON 5 in mistaking its brand of moral laxity for cutesy irreverence. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
An embarassingly unfunny, stumblebum adaptation of Toby Young's memoir. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Nothing in How to Lose Friends feels fresh or on target. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Cleverly titled but noxious British comedy. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
The movie based on Young's 2002 memoir is a good bit blunter. One early laugh comes at the expense of a pig urinating on a woman's feet at the BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars. And it doesn't get much better, or much smarter, than that. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Where Young's book was a slap in the face, this movie is a kick on the backside, all hokey humor and quaint lovability. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
People's title proves prophetic, only this time the people being alienated are the suckers in the paying audience. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Someone describes his writing as "snarky, bitter, witless." The last part pretty well sums up this movie. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Problem is, this movie is all surface - to quote one character, it has hidden shallows. Read full review
10
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Weide's big-screen version is sitcom-drab. Read full review
0
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The crushingly unfunny and slopped-together How to Lose Friends & Alienate People has neither the ambition nor the intelligence to do justice to its source material. Read full review
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