Movies tend to work too hard lately in order to achieve that ‘perfect joke’ when in the end, crude humor always claims victory. Who wants to think hard to laugh anyway?

“How to Lose Friends and Alienate People,” a film based on the book by Toby Young, grabs the throat of pleasant wit and throws it out the window. Sidney Young, played by Simon Pegg, adds his unforgettable element of British humor (think “Hot Fuzz,” “Shaun of the Dead”) to the film and doesn’t let the audience forget it.

Young’s story may seem familiar to anyone who has grown up in American society and has seen a few movies in their day. He starts in the lower class and through the combination of luck and being in the right place at the right time, he moves up through society to what we might call the bourgeoisie, but not without encountering a few obstacles along the way.

New York City has always been known for its furor and that’s precisely where Sidney finds himself after an unexpected phone call from his journalistic “competitor.”

New to the glamour and darker side of the Big Apple, Sidney moves into a dinky apartment building the night before the big debut at his new job. Eager to make his first impression on New York, Sidney sets out the very same night to experience club and bar life. Although the club experience is highly unsuccessful, he moves on to the bars in order to increase his chances of meeting the women of the city. At the bar he meets two young women – one by the name of Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) and the other with a less-than pleasant surprise for the unknowing Young.

The movie has a great presentation throughout. It’s very difficult to find yourself bored or even not laughing – it keeps the content humorous and likeable for virtually the entire time.

And forget about worrying that the acting quality is poor.

Unless you have a particular distaste for Kirsten Dunst, she and Pegg put on quite the entertaining performance.

Unfortunately if you’re not a big fan of romance in film, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” slips an element of romantic-comedy in toward the end.

How you respond to this depends on who you are and what you like in your movies.

It’s tough to not find “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” likeable.

If you read the book before you’ve seen the movie, then as with any book-to-movie transfer, it may be hard to find yourself attached. If you haven’t, as was the case with me, prepare for a comedic masterpiece.

But for the more sensitive, beware. British humor spares no one.