How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Kate Hudson plays Andie Anderson a columnist for Composure magazine. Even though she has a degree from Columbia, she is stuck writing a "How To" fluff piece for the magazine. Her latest assignment is to pick a guy, and do all the stupid things girls do to chase a man away. "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" is Andie's next challenge to write. Ben is the perfect man for her column!

Matthew McConaughey plays Benjamin Barry an ad executive wanting to break into a market he has never represented before. To market diamonds, his boss believes you have to understand what true love is, so Ben has to make a woman chosen for him, fall in love with him. Of course, Andie is the women Ben has to woo.

Kate and Matthew have so much chemistry on screen that they sizzle. This is such a fun movie. There are many funny moments, and some touching serious ones. You will want to see it over and over again.

A film by Donald Petrie

Here's a highly predictable, yet cute romantic comedy. I have to wonder if these sorts of situations actually occur in real life, but they seem to happen all of the time in the movies. Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a columnist at Composure Magazine. She writes the "How To" column intended for a female audience (Composure is similar to Cosmo or Glamour). The column she agrees to write for the current month is "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". She has to find a guy and start dating him, but intentionally make all the classic mistakes that women make in relationships. These mistakes will cause the guy to dump Andie in 10 days or less, which is just in time for Andie to finish her column and get it published.

Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) works in advertising. He is very good at what he does, but he is known for working on "guy" related campaigns. Ben wants to land his company's largest client, a diamond company, but he is seen as not having the right expertise and style for it. Ben is very good at selling himself and convinces his boss that he can get any woman to fall in love with him (being able to do this is similar to being able to sell diamonds, apparently). His boss gives him ten days, until a party that his boss is throwing for the new client. Benjamin has to be able to prove to his boss that the woman he brings to the party has truly fallen in love with him.

Out of all of the people in New York City, Andie and Ben are going to meet at the perfect time to start dating and try to work out their conflicting assignments. How this happens is moderately clever, and is actually believable if convenient. Andie tries to get Ben to break up with her, though in a cute non-threatening way. Ben is trying to get Andie to fall in love with him, so is willing to put up with everything that Andie throws at him.

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is incredibly predictable, but it is still an enjoyable movie. Nothing is a surprise, but it is cute and slick and Andie and Ben are two very likable characters. Sure, the movie is not very plausible and not very realistic, but cuteness and likeability goes a long way.

-Joe Sherry

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"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is a truly delightful little movie. It's packed full of laughs and fun and boasts a great cast that gives it the edge over the slew of romantic comedies recently released.

Ben (Matthew McConaughey) makes a bet with his boss that he can get a woman to fall in love with him in ten days to land a valuable advertising campaign (don't ask questions, you'll understand when you see the movie). Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is the "How To..." columnist as the hot new women's magazine, Composure. The topic of Andie's next column? How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, hence the name of the film. If Andie writes the article, her boss, Lana, will give her complete freedom on the topics she writes about Apparently Andie wants to write about "serious" issues. That's great, hon, but why are you working at a glossy fashion mag if you want to write articles on global issues?

Of course, Ben and Andie see each other at a bar and coincidentally choose each other as their "victims". And then you know what happens...

Kate Hudson is an absolute gem! She is sweet, funny, and completely adorable. The audience genuinely likes Kate Hudson, and thus sympathizes with Andie. A big problem with most romantic comedies is that the characters are so dislikable that you don't really care what happens to them. Kate Hudson was able to prevent that.

McConaughey was fine, but I firmly believe that he doesn't really act in films, just plays himself (he plays the same kind of guy in almost all his movies).

Ever noticed how most romantic comedies are really quite funny until they reach that inevitable stage when the two stop hating each other (or whatever was holding them from love) and fall in love? Take McConaughey's "The Wedding Planner" (another film in which McConaughey plays himself), which I thoroughly enjoyed until they fell in love. "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" blessedly does not fall under this category. The film is consistently funny through and through and never gets boring.

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Why review this movie? For the simple reason that I was stuck on an airplane for hours with nothing to do. Against my better judgment I decided to check out this 'romantic comedy', a genre that has become a breeding ground for garbage in the past 20 years or so.

Should have known better. If we want to call romantic comedies genre films, then this has all the pieces. And like many genre films these days, it sucks, made of half-baked ideas or the same old ingredients baked to nauseating results. Here's a movie about two people you would never know: he works at a super cool ad agency and has the type of office no one you know has, she works at a Cosmo-like magazine writing vapid columns for vapid people in a vapid office. They both make bets with their respective bosses: he'll get a girl to fall in love with him in 10 days, and she'll get a guy to dump her in 10. Want an easy solution to lose someone in a weekend? Start here.

The characters are happy, beautiful people living in impossibly large Manhattan apartments in your typical romantic comedy New York (which means full of rich, pretty people and none of the grit of the real city). They make a bet that they can basically ruin someone for the sake of their jobs, both of which are appropriately hollow professions (he is trying to sell diamonds to more women, she is doing columns for your typical New York society ice queen boss). Of course this means we'll see him be the nicest guy on the planet (cooking, court side Knicks tickets )for her while she tries to make his life a living hell (buying a puntable little dog who does his business on the man's pool table, interrupting his poker night, etc.) But of course, he has to try and work it out as his job depends on it. Meanwhile most men would have booted her and the dog in a jiffy.

The movie flat out insulted my intelligence. It has the obligatory scene where he takes her to his humble beginnings, which in this case is Staten Island, a place they want to portray as more down to earth, romantic, homey, etc. Blah. Kate Hudson may be nice to look at but she has none of her mother's famous expressions and in general, she has about half the talent. Matthew Mc-whatever is his same down-home nice guy.

Romantic comedies do not have to be this sappy and cheesy and insulting. Movies like this border on contempt for audiences. Who can relate to these characters? Who cares in the end? I guess it's a safe investment for a studio. Avoid, unless you want to lose more respect for Hollywood in two hours. And if you're stuck on a plane, ask for a gin and tonic and go to sleep.

Want How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) Discount?

... Start with a good script that includes a twist, and add good acting and as much humor as possible. This movie has these elements. Kate Hudson plays a "How To" columnist for a fluffy women's mag, but she really wants to write about serious subjects. She is trying to impress her boss (Bebe Newirth) enough to earn free reign on her writing. In this process and after her coworker whines incessantly about being dumped, Hudson opts to write a reverse How To on what turns guys off. She must find a guy that will fall for her, then do everything that women do wrong in relationships. Concurrently, Matthew McConaghey plays a sharp-shooting, go-getter ad exec who has thus far worked predominantly in the sports arena. He would like to break into the very lucrative world of jewelry. What stands in his way? Two lovely ladies who believe they can do it better, and have the ear of McConaghey's boss. McConaghey makes a bet that he can make any woman fall in love with him in 10 days, in order to prove his adeptness at knowing and being able to speak to the female mind. His opposition, having overheard Hudson's latest assignment, pick her seemingly randomly as McConaghey's target, thinking he's sure to lose. This is how the couple comes together. The rest of the movie is how they come apart ... and it's funny. Actually, it's almost uncomfortably funny. Your sides will split in laughter in parts of the movie. Plus, you'll wonder how Kate Hudson ever managed to get through the embarrassingly funny things she did in her attempt to scare off unsuspecting McConaghey. Kate's performance is perfect. In the end, as you just have to know, the truth unravels with the unwitting help of McConaghey's sidekicks. All in all, this movie has everything ... a good plot, good acting, lots of laughs, and ample chemistry. This one is a must for the avid romantic comedy collector. (and guys should like it too)

As for the DVD itself ... The deleted scenes aren't bad to watch, but the movie wasn't missing anything for having left them on the cutting room floor. I don't know about you, but I never really get into the lengthy commentaries so I haven't gone there to speak about it.