Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) runs a small alternative snarky magazine called The Post Modern Review. After crashing an after party at a British award show, that includes a runaway pig, Sidney catches the eye of Sharps magazine editor Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges). The party was actually put on by Sharps and not only is Harding not suing Sidney, but has offered him a job. Sidney without hesitation accepts and finds himself in New York. Instead of getting a good night’s sleep, Sidney parties through the night, making a scene with a lady at a bar and eventually goes home with a tall sexy brunette that turns out to be a transsexual. Sidney does not make the best first impression when he shows up to his first day on the job with an inappropriate red shirt that states “Young, Dumb and Full of Come.” A shirt he even brings as a gift to the editor Harding who is not amused. Sidney quickly finds out he has not “arrived” in his fantasy job. He has not been given the key to the palace and instead he is starting at the bottom. To make matters worst, his colleague turns out to be Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) the girl he insulted the night before at the bar. The only thing Sidney seems to be able to do well is alienate himself and his employment status is on shaky ground. The one saving grace in all of this is a sexy up and coming model turned actress Sophie Maes (Megan Fox).

Can Sidney find a way to survive in this new upscale world, get the girl and rocket himself to the success he envisions himself? That’s part of the fun in this story about the dog eat dog world of magazine journalism. Simon Pegg is perfect as the unlikeable Sidney Young. No matter what horrible or despicable thing Sidney does you still find yourself rooting for him. Now available on DVD, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is out with a few bonus features as well.

First up we have two commentary tracks, one with director Robert Weide and Simon Pegg and one with just the director alone. Both are good in different ways with the first one being more amusing with Simon Pegg along for the ride and the second being more informative on the making and technical aspect of the film. The only other bonus feature is an almost 20 minute “Making of” that is surprisingly good and informative.

This DVD is surprisingly sparse for a subject matter that would seem to be begging to have featurettes made about everything from working in the word of magazines to tabloids themselves. Not to mention it’s surprising that writer Toby Young is mysteriously absent in it all. I would have expected to have him included in one of the commentary tracks or even a little featurette on the “real stories”. Sadly none of this is included with the DVD. Perhaps an expanded edition will appear some day on blu-ray.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People I suspect will find an audience in the home video market. It’s a funny enough film that works if you are a fan of Simon Pegg. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is now out and waiting to be discovered. Oh did I mention that Megan Fox is in a scene that involves her walking into a swimming pool in an evening gown?

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