How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Once again, I was smart enough to listen to one of you and order this DVD from the city library. Comic actor Simon Pegg ("Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Run, Fatboy, Run") plays a British writer hired by a high-profile New York magazine to report on entertainment personalities...sort of a People magazine, as it were.

Problem is, his editor, played by The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges ("The Big Lebowski" and "Iron Man") hired him because he liked his edgy work in London, but can't allow him to use that style now that he is in New York because most of those entertainment personalities are represented by a powerful agent, played by Gillian Anderson ("Bleak House" and "The X Files"). Naturally, our hero feels stifled and frustrated. He becomes chums with an equally frustrated co-worker, played by Kirsten Dunst ("Spiderman" and "Wimbledon"), while routinely being humiliated by his immediate boss, played by Danny Houston ("Children of Men" and "Marie Antoinette").

So far, nothing new, right?

Here is what strikes me...and the person who recommended this movie: Simon Pegg has a knack for playing less-than-admirable characters, and yet, by the time the chips are down, you can see his decency, find him loveable and feel yourself rooting for him! This goofy movie is particularly fun and involving. It has deliciously silly stuff, e.g., the sultry actress who, in her award-winning role, plays the young Mother Teresa, and shows the world that "saints, too, were human before they were saints!" And you don't want her to find out who killed Cuba! Trust me!

Yup, heroes to root for, villains to hiss, a couple of plot twists, and fun all around. Oh, and a happy ending...sorta...