The Sound of No Hands Clapping and Nobody Laughing

Last weekend I had the misfortune of going to see "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" so let this be a warning to you all - don't make the same mistake I did. I recall being mildly amused by Toby Young's book when I read it in 2001 but this unfunny and unintelligent film bares no relation at all to its source material. The screenplay was clearly written by someone striving to portray an insider's view of celebrity journalism but the script is just full of cliches and stereotypes - the hacks and their hatchet jobs versus the PR bitch and her puff pieces - it's all so turn of the millennium and feels terribly dated. Since then, we have all become so much more celeb savvy then this film could ever hope to be. Desperate for laughs, the movie descends into farce pretty much from the beginning, relying on pigs, transvestite strippers and dead Chihuahuas to provide the "humour". The most amusing thing was pointing out the bizarre people popping up in bit parts - if you were wondering what Margo Stilley has been up to since baring all in 9 Songs - well, she's been showing up at every party she's invited to and appearing in rubbish like this. And there's posh arista Isabella Calthorpe helping Margo out in the fashion cupboard at "Sharps" magazine. And what's 90210' s Brian Austin Green doing hanging out with real-life fiancee Megan Fox in the pool scene? The movie fails completely - both as a satire on the modern obsession with celebrity and as a romantic comedy. Here's hoping Young's sequel "The Sound of No Hands Clapping" never makes it to the big screen.