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How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
2003 - PG-13 - 110 Mins.
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| Director: Donald Petrie | | Producer: Robert Evans | | Written By: Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, and Burr Steers | | Starring: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Adam Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth, and Michael Michele |
| Review by: Joe Rickey |
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A surprisingly crude and coarse excuse for a romantic comedy, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days features ineffectual performances by its two leads which sinks the film under an already inept script concerning a woman writing an article about dating a guy and then dumping them and relaying the experience in the article. Unfortunately for her, the guy she is dating made a bet with his friends that he could stay with a girl for more than ten days. Complications arise and the foregone conclusion eventually comes. The film stars Matthew McConaughey (Frailty) and Kate Hudson (The Four Feathers) and directed by Donald Petrie (Miss Congeniality).
Despite having a track record of romantically inclined films, director Petrie seemed to have lost his touch during the film of his latest feature. The plot and the way in which it is staged is so contrived and certifiably absurd that even the most forgiving audience won’t buy the events that conspire in this film. Honestly, I expected more from the man who brought such fun films to the screen as Grumpier Old Men and the aforementioned Miss Congeniality.
The same could be said for McConaughey’s performance. Here, he seems content to rest on his Southern charm without trying to bring believability to an absurdly written role. After a subtly effective turn in Frailty his performance in the film comes across as even more of a surprise because he even turned in a better performance in The Wedding Planner with costar Jennifer Lopez. He is appears to be the right man for the type of role, but, in concurrence with a clumsy script, he is unable to pull off the role with the charm one would expect after seeing the trailer and other promotional materials.
Kate Hudson may be the daughter of a longstanding and quite talented mother in Goldie Hawn, but after her overrated performance in Almost Famous, an almost nonexistent presence in The Four Feathers, and now an over the top turn in her latest film, she is losing the faith of myself in her because I believe that with the right role, she could be a solid actor like her mother. It is, after all, in her genes. She has the looks but she overacts so terribly that her performance quickly becomes grating and altogether annoying to behold.
Overall, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is a disappointing romantic comedy because of an overly crude script and two leads that have (or have yet to) see (n) better days.
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