This film is based on the novel by the same name by Toby Young and is about his life in New York when he worked for "Vanity Fair" magazine. How close the book, this movie and reality are related to each other is something I do not know. I'd love to know if Young is really this thoroughly hateful and boorish.

In England, Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) spends his life trying to crash celebrity parties to get stories for his fledgling blog or magazine (I'm not sure which--nor do I really care). For no apparent reason, the editor of a HUGE magazine in New York (Jeff Bridges) calls Young and offers him a job. So, his years of crashing parties is over--with "Sharps" magazine, he now has entrée--albeit, it's at a very low-level job. Once in New York, Young pretty much alienates himself from everyone because he's a worthless, boorish and despicable guy. Folks with Asperger's Syndrome would be MUCH more adept given the same opportunity. Yet, again and again, he manages to say and do the wrong thing. Why a co-worker (Kirsten Dunst) eventually grows to care about him is inexplicable, as he gives them almost nothing to like. And, how this guy manages to eventually be a success is beyond me.

The problem is that the character of Sidney Young is so abrasive, so annoying, so shallow and so thoroughly unlikable that it just doesn't seem possible. He is possibly the worst person I've seen in a film that isn't Hitler or some other despotic world dictator. Heck, Freddy Kruger and Jason are more charismatic and likable than Sidney Young! Had they made him HARD to like instead of IMPOSSIBLE to like, it might have worked. Or, at least, it would have worked a lot better.

So, if Young is this awful, what else is there if anything? Well, not much. Most of the rest of the folks in the film aren't likable, either. Plus, you'll be assaulted with a lot of nastiness--such as the often use of the 'ol F-bomb AND a full-frontal she-male* nude scene (I did NOT need to see this). All in all, a film I kept HOPING would become better but didn't. A huge disappointment. And, it makes you wonder how very talented folks (such as Pegg and Kirsten Dunst) agreed to star in such an unlikable film.

*What is the best and most accepted way to say this? I have no idea but the person looked exactly like a sexy lady with male genitalia.

Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) is a boorish, unlikeable, annoying, inappropriate, douche idiot A-hole. He crashes parties and ridicules famous celebrities in his London magazine. He gets noticed by Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges) and hired onto the glitzy "Sharps" magazine as the cultural editor. He tries to befriend co-worker Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) and win over starlet fame-whore Sophie Maes (Megan Fox).

Simon Pegg doesn't fit this character that well. Even in 'Spaced', he had a streak of likability. He's an adorable guy. It's a little better when he shows some vulnerabilities later in the movie. For a guy trying to show how shallow everybody is, he's the most shallow of them all. I wish they wade through some of his depths earlier in the movie. The other problem is that he has no chemistry with Kirsten Dunst. She's almost as hopelessly uncompelling as a character. The movie really struggles to find its way in this rom-com formula.

Simon Pegg stars as Sidney Young, a hack writer with a British celebrity magazine whose only desire is to be with the people he trashes in his columns. Clayton (Jeff Bridges) is the successful editor of New York celebrity magazine. He offers Sidney a job which he accepts. Sidney quickly discovers he is way out of his league and if he doesn't shape up he will lose his job. Kirsten Dunst plays Simon's boss who sees him as a zero and would like to see him fail. Meagan Fox plays an actress that Simon would like to get close to at any cost.

Simon can do no right, sort of an obnoxious Mr. Bean. However as the story progresses we discover that Simon isn't as shallow as our first impression. His turn around and redemption is what turns this film from a romp to a heart warming tale.

PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bomb, no sex, nudity (Margo Stilley)