British comics Steve Coogan, Rich Gervais, and now Simon Pegg have attempted the jump to Hollywood. Only Coogan retained his identity, and the critically acclaimed Hamlet 2 died the box-office death. The others have opted to squeeze their eccentric personae into a standard romantic comedy. In this case, the source material — Toby Young’s memoir — has already been homogenized by Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert B. Weide. Young, an unapologetic sot and shit, described how he left London for Vanity Fair only to learn that the honest dissolution of Blighty beats the snobbery of the States. In the movie version, Pegg’s emigré hack, Sidney Young, needs redemption; he’s drawn to a starlet, but his true love is a fellow scribe (Kirsten Dunst) who is similarly deluded in her attractions. Lesson learned, but no laughs — this is a hip Pegg jammed in a square hole. 110 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Suburbs
