How To Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)


Jeff Bridges            Clayton Harding
Kirsten Dunst           Alison Olsen
Kelan Pannell           Young Sidney Young
Janette Scott           Mrs. Young
Simon Pegg              Sidney Young
Megan Fox               Sophie Maes
Gillian Anderson        Eleanor Johnson
Kelly Jo Charge         Apollo Awards Presenter
Christian Smith         Apollo Awards Guest
Katherine Parkinson     PR Woman
Felicity Montagu        Clipboard Nazi
Thandie Newton          Herself
John Lightbody          Assistant Hotel Manager

Directed by:            Robert B. Weide
Produced by:            Tessa Ross, Paul White (II), Simon Fawcett


Sidney Young, a smalltime, bumbling, British celebrity journalist, is hired by an upscale magazine in 
New York City. In spectacular fashion Sidney enters high society and burns bridges with bosses, peers 
and superstars. After disrupting one black-tie event by allowing a wild pig to run rampant, Sidney catches 
the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of Sharp, and accepts a job with the magazine in New York City. 
Clayton warns Sidney that he'd better impress and charm everyone he can, if he wants to succeed. Instead, 
Sidney instantly insults and annoys fellow writer Alison Olsen. He dares to target the star clients of 
power publicist Eleanor Johnson. He upsets his direct boss Lawrence Maddox and tries to make amends by 
hiring a stripper to dance for Lawrence during a staff meeting. Sidney, of course, doesn't stop there, 
finding creative ways to annoy nearly everyone. His saving graces: a rising, sexy starlet develops an 
odd affection for him, and in time, Alison whose friendship with him might be the only thing saving Sidney 
from torpedoing his career.

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Sidney Young is a disillusioned intellectual who both adores and despises the world of celebrity, fame and 
glamor. His alternative magazine, Post Modern Review, pokes fun at the media obsessed stars and bucks trends, 
and so when Young is offered a job at the diametrically opposed conservative New York based Sharps magazine 
its something of a shock! It seems Sharps editor Clayton Harding is amused by Young's disruption of a 
post-BAFTA party with a pig posing as Babe. Thus begins Sidney's descent into success - his gradual move 
from derided outsider to confidante of starlet Sophie Maes. Initially helping him out at Sharps is colleague 
Alison Olsen, who has her own secret. Wither their friendship?