ScreenWize

More than ten years ago, English journalist Toby Young managed to weasel a job at New York’s Vanity Fair magazine after insulting the editor. Three years later he was let go, with little or nothing to show for what had been (in his own words) “a career cul-de-sac”. Determined to make something of his time hobnobbing with stars, artists and supermodels, he wrote a satirical book about his experience, and it hit the best-seller lists after being rejected by 22 publishers. This is the film of the book of the real story that probably wasn’t that funny in the first place.

English comedian Simon Pegg plays Young’s character – now renamed Sidney – a fish out of gutter working on the other side of the Atlantic for stylish Sharps magazine. Sidney is an obnoxious prat, prone to promoting and embarrassing himself as he tries desperately to win the respect of Editor-in-Chief Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges). Sidney has poor eating habits, a terrible way with fashion, and an unfortunate sense of timing (he organises a stripper-gram for his boss on Bring-Your-Daughter-to-the Office Day). After annoying everyone on the magazine , including co-worker Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) and boss Lawrence Maddox (Danny Huston), he is assigned to help publicity queen Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson) promote rising star Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), but he only manages to kill her pet dog. It’s that kind of story for an hour or so – complete with slapstick and ironic black humour. Then it suddenly and inexplicably turns into a romantic comedy. A-ha! That’s what Kirsten Dunst is doing in this film.

If you’ve seen Simon Pegg in Shaun of The Dead or Hot Fuzz, you know the kind of wry, casual sarcasm that lies at the heart of his performance style. There are similar moments here as Young’s observations of New York’s sycophantic celebrity lifestyle hit their mark, but the writing is never as wicked and punchy as the material Pegg develops for himself. The script also requires Pegg to become romantic leading man after so much is invested in him being a complete idiot, a tricky juggling act for the actor, and a narrative risk likely to lose producers and alienate the audience.

Most of the rest of the cast get to play it straight and clichéd to Pegg’s antics, Gillian Anderson once again showing her range and talent as she makes something out of nothing as the calculating star-maker. With a tighter script that stuck to exposing the darkly comic side of celebrity image-making, this could have been much more fun.

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon