This classic tale of an Englishman in New York was based on the fitfully amusing chronicle of British writer Toby Young's brief tenure at Vanity Fair magazine.

Intending to sock the celebrity-deferring Yanks with a no-prisoners honesty and a scathingly incorruptible wit, he turned out to be a bit of a prat.

Unfortunate incidents tended to distract from his aim to be Ernest Hemingway in reverse.

He hired a transexual strip-o-gram on bring-your-children-to-work day, crushed a starlet's chihuahua to death and delivered a coked-up singalong to the incredulous guests at a garden party in The Hamptons.

Truly, Toby Young was a legend in his own lunchtime. One which he probably charged to expenses.

Simon Pegg, who you suspect brings a little more humility to the role than the real-life Young, plays the gaffe-prone scribbler - Sidney Young - with a cheeky cockiness that never quite boils over into arrogance.

Jeff Bridges is a crumpled pleasure as the bewigged editor of Sharps magazine Clayton Harding while Danny Huston is suitably oily as the two-faced office superior who pinches all Sidney's good ideas.

Screenwriter Peter Straughen has converted the original parade of pitfalls and self-mythology into a serviceable rom-com and he's also managed to work in some decent gags for Pegg to work with.

The casting of the likeable Kirsten Dunst as Pegg's love interest pay dividends and the final edition - while a million miles away from the original Young's spikey catalogue of Manhattan insincerity - is amenable fare.

At least it's not going to lose crowds and alienate audiences.

Tim Evans