How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Originally Reviewed

Saturday January 26, 2006

How the Hollywood romantic comedies make finding that special someone so easy that basically all you have to do is accept a bet, blindly pick someone based on looks and then unintentionally find out in 10 days that you don't know how you'll ever live without them! Now only if real life was a bit like that. Personally I would settle for being able to figure out if a girl even liked me within a 10 day period of time, give me a lighting bolt to the head and the power to figure out what it is that women want. Well that’s a whole different film, but what How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days really proves is the fact that if your really hot, or the other person is trying to win a bet there really is no way to lose a guy in 10 days.

Kate Hudson is Andie Anderson, a writer for a women’s fashion magazine who wants to be able to write on politics, war, etc and not the continually "How To" crap she's constantly being forced to write. In a meeting at work she is forced to think fast and save her friend's bottom barrel relationship from being turned into an article. She throws out the idea of writing an article on the things not to do to lose a guy by dating a random guy off the street, getting him to fall for her and then doing all the wrong things to make him run away in 10 days.

Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey), an advertiser for beer and sports equipment, gets the opportunity to head the top advertising account of one the biggest diamond distributors in the world. Although his boss is hesitant to give him the account because he feels a woman would be better suited to sell diamonds. Ben claims he knows all there is to know about women and that he could get any woman to fall in love with him. Therefore the bet arises that if he can make a girl they randomly pick fall in love with him in 10 days he wins the bet and the account.

So for Ben and Andie the next 10 days becomes a competition, for one to make the other fall in love with him, and for him to run away from her. The unfortunate thing is what happens when the two start falling for one another only to find out the whole reason they were together in the first place.

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is one of your typical romantic comedies with a little different spin. There are no big surprises, it's almost a given that these two will actually fall in love and then in the end find out that they have both been lying to each other the entire time. But while rather predictable it still happens to be highly enjoyable in the end. Both actors do a fine job, and the film flows at a steady pace throughout. Kate's antics begin to get a little tiresome and annoying after a while and she is a lot more enjoyable when she isn't acting like a little girl, trying to scare Matthew away. In the end, this is a good film while it lasts, but after that it is nothing more.

7/10