How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days | | Cast : | Donald Petrie, Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Kathryn Hahn, Thomas Lennon (III) | | Director : | | | Studio : | Paramount | | Format : | Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC | | Released Date : | February 07, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | July 01, 2003 | | Language : | English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | October 24, 2005 | | Summary | GHOSTS OF DAY AND HUDSON | Content
 | This entertaining if unmemorable film harkens back to the sixties romantic farces of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey adequately filling their shoes. She plays a magazine writer who makes a bet that she can lose a guy in ten days while he plays an ad exec who makes bet he can make someone fall in love with him in the same time period. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the plot is heading, but the leads are engaging and there are some laughs along the way. Kate is more like her mom (Goldie Hawn) than in previous films and McConaughey has a masculine charm that complements Hudson's blondeness. It's certainly not Oscar caliber, but it's entertaining nonetheless in its own breezy way. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 11, 2005 | | Summary | Great fun | Content
| This truly is a romantic comedy, one that everyone could enjoy. The characters interact well together, which makes for a seemless story to unfold, one that is plausible and real. Buy or rent it, either way just watch it. Not just a good romantic comedy, but a good movie all around. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 09, 2005 | | Summary | How A Romantic Comedy Falls Flat | Content
| The Premise: Kate Hudson works for a fashion magazine, and as research for her column she has agreed to hook a man and then drive him away in 10 days by making the common 'mistakes' that many women make in dating. Unbeknownst to her, the man she gets is Matthew McConaughey, an ad exec who has been challenged by his boss and competitors at work to make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days or less. See? One wants to wreck it at all costs, one wants to save it at all costs. The wackiness is supposed to ensue.
Why It Doesn't Work: This type of set-up forces two very amiable stars to behave like nitwits for the entire film. By the time they inevitably discover that each was deceiving the other, you haven't developed any sympathy for either character. You don't care if they get past it and end up together. If just one was deceiving the other, you'd have a place to make your emotional connection to what's happening, and it doesn't even necessarily preclude you from ending up liking the deceiver (especially if he or she is being deceptive for reasons beyond their control). Here, however, they're both being extraordinarly callous about the feelings of another human being, for pretty flimsy reasons. After awhile, rather than sucking you in, it just starts to piss you off.
McConaughey's a very likeable star, and I'm crazy about Hudson. I'm inclined to like any movie she makes. This one, though, just makes ya try too hard. It's flatter than a pancake.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 26, 2005 | | Summary | One of My All-Time Favorites! | Content
| Kate Hudson (as Andie) and Matthew McConnaughey (as Ben) are charming and delightful in this lovable movie that puts a different kind of twist on chick flicks. Andie is a "How To.." columnist at "the fastest growing women's magazine in the country" and Ben works in advertising. Andie, inspired by her friend's breakup with a boyfriend, is prompted to write a "How To" article on the mistakes women make in relationships that cause them to lose the guy. She has exactly ten days to find a guy, annoy him, and get him to dump her, thus the "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days" idea. Meanwhile, Ben makes a bet with his colleagues that he can make absolutely any girl fall in love with him, in well, just ten days! If he wins the bet, he makes his pitch to the DeLauer Jewelers for their new commercial. While out that night, Andie and Ben choose each other from the crowd of people at the restaurant, and bam! Within hours, their little game has begun. But little does each of them know, there's a dirty little trick up the other's sleeve. She needs to lose him, and he needs her to fall in love with him. Hysterical and sweet. Watching Andie and Ben play each other for fools is quite entertaining! Predictable, but fun. I love this movie! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | "I miss you, Benny-boo-boo-boo!" | Content
| "How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days" starts off awkwardly, unfolds dully, suddenly gets better, and then loses steam again. This is too bad, because for a while in the middle I was starting to enjoy this goofy movie. Ultimately, though, it was as my mother would say "Sha-poopy."
Kate Hudson stars as Andie Anderson, a columnist for a "Vogue"-type magazine who longs to write about important issues like the refugee plight in "Takijstan". Instead, she is saddled with an assignment to drive a man away in ten days by committing all the supposedly classic mistakes woman make in relationships. You know, calling a guy fifty million times a day, telling him you love him after knowing him less than a week, etc. Matthew McConaughey is a slick ad exec named Ben who attempts to prove he can handle a big account targeted toward women by making a random woman fall in love with him, also in ten days (This part of the plot is pretty shaky, to tell you the truth). Of the millions of people in New York, guess which two hook up in a crowded bar?
Of course, none of the nutty things Andie does to Ben send him packing, so her ideas gradually become more and more outrageous. This part of the movie actually borders on being funny, as Andie humiliates Ben in wilder and wilder ways; redecorating his apartment, getting him beat up, and (horrors!) dragging him to see Celine Dion. There is also a sweet scene involving Ben's parents and a rather colorful card game, but the final fifteen minutes or so return to the strained feeling of the beginning before we finally get to the end we all knew was coming.
Kate Hudson's once promising career really started to go downhill with this film, and even though you can see the Goldie Hawn sparkle she doesn't appear to have her mother's magnetism. Simply put: Kate grates. And don't get me started on McConaughey, who with the exception of "A Time to Kill" plays the same part in every movie. His character here is really no different from his character in "Sahara", and that's saying something.
If you really want a modern romantic comedy, I recommend "Two Weeks Notice" or "Laws of Attraction". While no classics, these two are at least funny and unpainful. As for "Ten Days", I would say as a point of reference it's worse than "Miss Congeniality" but better than "The Wedding Planner". But then again, what isn't.
GRADE: C+
(By the way, for those who care, I will admit Kate trounces "Maid in Manhattan's" J.Lo in the Looking-Stunning-While-Wearing-A-Designer-Dress Department. So she gets props for that.) |
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