Released: January 27, 2003 (US premiere)
Directed by: Donald Petrie
Written by: Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan & Burr Steers, based on the book by Michele Alexander & Jeannie Long
Starring: Kate Hudson & Matthew McConaughey
Plot: Two business-minded professionals use one another to further their own careers but start developing feelings for one another.
IMDb: 6.3/10Rotten Tomatoes: 42/100
My Score: 2.5/5
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
The 2003 romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, an
uneven Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey vehicle, is pretty much a text-book
chick flick. A veritable cliché smorgasbord, they come in all shapes and sizes
from character to story to dialogue. A pretty journalist named Andie Anderson (Hudson)
is writing an article called “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” for “Composure” (not
“Cosmopolitan,” wink, wink) magazine. She will intentionally make mistakes women
make in relationships (the script’s claim, not mine) to drive a man away from
her and then write about the experience. Meanwhile, a handsome ad man named
Benjamin Berry (McConaughey), with vague bad boy tendencies and six pack abs, wants
to land a big diamond account for his firm. He makes the claim that he knows the
opposite sex so well that he can make any woman fall in love with him. His boss
tells him that if he does, in say, the next ten days, just in time for a big
party thrown by the diamond company, the account will be his. Through a series
of highly coincidental plot devices, these two end up using each other to meet
their individual goals. But since this is a rom-com, of course they start
developing real feelings for one another. Will their budding love survive the climax
when all the skeletons pop out of their closets? The movie wouldn’t have as
made nearly as much as it did ($177 million worldwide) if they didn’t. Everything about this movie is formulaic on
both sides of the gender divide. Not only do we see smoke-filled poker nights
but we are also treated to women with post break-up hysteria. Nothing about the
movie seems original. Even the soundtrack is full of easily forgettable adult
pop hits. That’s not to say that there is nothing redeemable about this movie.
The leads have good chemistry and are supported by a number of familiar faces,
even if you don’t know their names. People like Kathryn Hahn, Adam Goldberg,
Thomas Lennon, Bebe Neuwirth and Robert Klein. There are funny lines peppered
throughout, like “You mean Miss Babylon 5?” when referring to a girl in a bar. Anyone
passingly familiar with the sci-fi series will get a chuckle out of that one. There
are 25 great minutes of movie between the poker night scene and Andie and Ben returning
from a weekend visit to Ben’s parents’ house on Staten Island. This chunk of
film contains the comedic and emotional highlights of the film; a session of
fake couples therapy run by Hahn and the humanity of Ben’s close-knit family,
respectively. It’s also the period in which they start recognizing the feelings
they have for one another. After these alternatingly funny and touching
moments, the script goes right back into farce, lowering the emotional and
intellectual IQ of the audience in the process. The whole thing culminates in a
ridiculous climax only plausible because the script says it is. McConaughey and
Hudson are likeable and watchable but there really isn’t much special about the
movie. Based on the illustrated manual of what not to do in relationships
called “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: The Universal Don’ts of Dating” written by
Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long, this won’t be the best chick flick you’ll ever
see but fellas, you could do worse. Director Donald Petrie is no stranger to chick flicks, having helmed both Miss Congeniality and Mystic Pizza. It was nominated for a handful of Teen ChoiceAwards, an MTV Movie Award and won a BMI Film & TV Award.
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