Review

As we approach Valentines Day I’m going to cover three romantic comedies. First is “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” from 2003 starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughy.

Andie is a fashion magazine writer that wants to make a difference, but first she has to do one last job. Ben is an advertiser trying to expand his advertising categories, but first he’s got to make one last sale. Not a terribly relatable pair of characters and the plot revolves around their very unrelatable relationship. They grapple with the much more relatable themes of what makes us fall in love and what is it worth?

The opening credits give a cute introduction to our leading lady that doesn’t over explain her back story allowing the film to quickly get into the meat of her current motivations. Ben get’s a less elegant introduction, but he too has clear goals and well defined character. These strong motivations make the rather ridiculous set up for their relationship feel plausible, if unlikely, rather than contrived. Throughout the film they never waste time explaining things that can be reasonably understood or assumed by an adult leaving plenty of time for the many hilarious vignettes our couple end up in. The movie is only let down by its typical ending which brings nothing new to the genre.

Throughout there is a fair amount of sexual conversation and foul language, mostly undirected, making this more appropriate for date night than family night.

The fitting tagline of the movie is “One of them is lying. So is the other.” This makes How to Lose a Guy like watching a poker game on tv where you can see both players hands. We can see the characters bluffing or being sincere even when they and their friends may not know it. Each lead has two friends: one quirky and one generic. The best of all of them is the droll Thayer played by Thomas Lennon. The friends are all believable and plain. The very clear balance between the leads enables us to sympathize with both making neither a villain or a fool. This rare balance and side splitting moments make “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” one of my favourite comedies regardless of category.

If you’re looking for a romantic comedy to watch with someone that might be resistant to the genre it’s hard to do better than “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. I give it a 7/10. Watch it.

Thanks.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is available on Amazon Prime Video, DVD, and Bluray.

DVD - https://amzn.to/3ab7jPy

BD in Combo Pack with “Failure to Launch” - https://amzn.to/3r4Gjbj