960. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Adam Goldberg

Director: Donald Petrie

Running Time: 116 mins

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is an American film about a woman, writing an article on how to lose a guy in 10 days, and a man, attempting to win a bet that he can make a woman fall in love with him in just 10 days, who meet and enter into a complex relationship.

Right, this film is genuinely surprising, because, for the majority, it bucks the generic rom-com trend and goes full-blown comedy, not focussing on cheesy drama that has no meaning. However, the beginning is totally preposterous, dull and lacking in laughs, whilst the film sadly disappoints in the end with a painfully generic finale.

Let’s start with the start of this film. The premise is on paper already ridiculous, but over the first twenty minutes or so when the characters are being introduced and the whole situation is being explained in fine detail, it’s not that interesting or funny because it goes on too long, whilst the characters themselves are just too cartoonish for anything to be at all believable, therefore setting up the story on a very weak base.

However, as the film goes on, and the two main characters’ relationship develops, it becomes a lot more fun to watch, and, whilst it’s still not believable, it’s a rom-com that’s got some good laughs in it and is consistently engaging.

Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson play your average lead roles, and whilst McConaughey doesn’t really add anything special to his character apart from a good bit of charm, Hudson’s performance is a lot of fun, because it seems as if she’s enjoying making this ridiculously annoying character, rather than being overly dramatic with a generically one-dimensional female lead, something that was a big surprise.

The other thing about the middle portion of this film is how it doesn’t go in the direction that you’d expect. Most rom-coms would take this into drama territory, where each other’s emotions would take hold and persuade them to tell the truth about who they are. However, this takes a little bit more of a brutal approach in the story, with both characters sticking to their guns throughout, allowing for more focus on decent comedy and making some laughs, which actually works.

Despite that, however, this movie’s potential goes right down the toilet in a horrific finale. With all of the fun that the middle portion had, and the fact that it had bucked the trend of over-emphasis on romantic drama, the end of this film goes straight into a cheesy genre finale that has no surprises, no laughs and no intrigue, whilst the fact that it lasts for over half an hour makes it all the more irritating.

Overall, this film gets a 6.2, because despite its very strong main body, the opening lacked comprehension, and the ending was unfortunately more generic than you could image.