Overview
Andie Anderson is hit hard with an impossible deadline: her mission is to find a man, have him fall hard for her, and then have him dump her in 10 short days. Once this is accomplished, only then can she write a column for the fictional woman’s magazine she works for, Composure, about the title’s namesake: How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days. Little does she know, she happens to be the target of an advertising agency guru who bites off more than he can chew when he makes a bet with his boss that he can make any girl fall in love with him in just 10 days. The catch is that the guru, Benjamin Barry, cannot choose his target, the target is picked out by two conniving colleagues of Benjamin’s that have a lot to lose if he wins. The ladies, who are keen to what Andie needs to do to accomplish her goal, choose Andie as Benjamin’s target. What follows is side splitting humor as Andie tries to get lose Benjamin, while he will do anything and everything he can to hold on to her.

Review
Sleepless in Seattle. You’ve Got Mail. Pretty Woman. All are legendary chick flicks. Movies your girlfriend begged you to bring her to. The biggest question is a rather simple one: Do you like chick flicks? If the answer is no, it won’t matter what I write in this review that will convince you to see it. But if the answer is yes, I think you’ll be happy with the outcome.

Chick flicks, romantic comedies, cheese fests. More often than not, women love them and guys hate them. You always know how it will end, it’s just the process of getting there that varies from film to film. This is a pretty unique film in that it is one that exposes many of the mindless things that both men and women do in life, and puts them under a magnifying scope, which seems to make them even funnier.

Andie Anderson (played by the beautiful Kate Hudson) works for Composure magazine in the heart of New York City as a “How To…” columnist. Andie aspires to write about such topics as politics, foreign affairs, and even religion, but in order to use the Masters degree in Journalism she earned at Columbia University, she must first start at the bottom of the proverbial food chain and work her way up. In order to write the column that her boss half forces down her throat, Andie must find a guy, have him fall head over heals in love with her, and have him kick her to the curb in only 10 days.

Benjamin Barry (played by the charming Matthew McConaughey) is an advertising guru that, like Andie, has other ideas about what he wants to do with his life. He desperately wants to jump from the “boring” sports gear ads and beer prints, and into something much more exciting – such as diamonds. He has a chance at getting that big account, but there is a twist: Ben can’t just work his tail off to win this account, he needs to win a bet with his boss that he can make a girl fall in love with him before the sales pitch needs to be made to the agency’s client in just (yup, you guessed it) 10 days.

Andie’s plan once she gets her hooks into Benjamin is to do everything right, and make him fall fast for her. Before Benjamin knows it, he is well on his way to landing the account, while at the same time, falling for a gorgeous, “perfect” woman. She loves beer, basketball, and playing Bullshit. What more could Ben want?? But Ben counts his chicks before they’re hatched, and it is not nearly as easy as he thought it would be. Andie pulls every trick out of her handbag to push Ben away, but he is resilient. He withstands the invasion of the girly bathroom, the chick flicks, the girly comforter and the stuffed animals. Those are just some of the egregious offenses she commits…yet he stands by her. Damn. Is he in love, or is he just after the account?

Acting
Kate Hudson was made for the role she plays in this film. The script calls for a funny, sexy, engaging actress, and they easily get their actress in Hudson. She doesn’t seem like she needs to act that much, delivering her lines with ease and just becoming the role of Andie without any problems. She seems to definitely have a lot of fun making the movie, and that shows through in her acting. Hudson is very versatile in her short acting career, doing a terrific job in movies like Almost Famous and 200 Cigarettes.

Matthew McConaughey, much like Hudson in her role, was a perfect match for the role of the zany ad executive that falls for Andie. It’s the combination of being a guy’s guy and a southern gentleman that the girls swoon over that makes him so good a fit for this role. McConaughey’s facial expressions are key in this movie, especially for the male audience. They help convey similar feelings that guys have on a daily basis, especially ones they encounter when they are with their ladies. As always, McConaughey was brilliant in this cute little romantic comedy, and I think this movie helps people forget about the disaster that was Reign of Fire, even though he was exceptional in Frailty.

I think the main key to the entire success of this film is the unbelievable chemistry between Hudson and McConaughey. It is uncanny how natural they seem to be with each other, how they feed off of each other and bring the film to another level. Whether it is their body language or just a look in their eyes, you can tell they are having a blast while they are acting. That kind of chemistry isn’t something that occurs very often on the big screen, and I hope I see them in another film together soon, because I am confident the chemistry would still be there. It really is a something to see.
 
Oh, and because I know I will receive more than a couple emails from people asking, no, Kate Hudson does not get naked (that we can really see at least), and yes, Matthew McConaughey loses his shirt more than once.

Directing
Based on the book by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long, How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, works for us, despite the massive amount of typical chick flick humor this movie delivers. It works because even though the plot isn’t something that would necessarily happen in real life, it could, and the real life reactions this film displays of each gender makes us laugh out loud and begging for more. Director Donald Petrie didn’t need to do much tweaking with this sure-hit script, but he certainly knows how to keep the audience grabbing their stomachs, and has a track record with movies similar to this one. Petrie has also directed Grumpy Old Men, My Favorite Martian, and Miss Congeniality, none of them Oscar winners, but definitely films that keep the audience amused. The movie forces us to believe in the “Joe Millionaire Fairytale”, the fairytale that even though someone has been dishonest in a relationship (in this case, both of them), it can still work out for the better – because of love. Yes, it’s a big ball of cheese if you ask me, but it works for a lot of people, and I think that it delivered.

Final Thoughts
What this movie boils down to is one simple question that I asked towards the beginning of this review: Do you like chick flicks? If you don’t, I would give it probably a 3. You will find it overloaded with more cheese than Nachos Bell Grande from Taco Bell, so much that it might drown you. If you do enjoy these kinds of movies, I give it a 4 out of 5. You’ll laugh while you are in the theater and even after you have left, wondering when the next clever “romantic comedy” will hit theaters.
 
Hyndsy Rating: 4 out of 5 Planets


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