How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2003

C+

Saw this last night in payment for being allowed to see The Two Towers. This is another lite romance and you know exactly what you’ll get going in. Given only the sketchiest details about the beginning of the plot, you can figure out the rest and the script can be counted on for never wavering from the obvious.

Critics hated this movie, largely because so many similar movies are put out there and the differences between them are small. But I only go to this kind of movie a couple of times a year so I actually enjoyed it. Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are very good in this (though I think Kate Hudson is just kind of funny-looking and MM is too pretty and has to try a little too hard for the comic scenes). It’s fun to watch as they each think they are manipulating the other. Even as it follows the clearly-marked and well-lit plot path, you still enjoy it.

Many of the supporting roles are just dreadful. Those people are just filler and they’re not even very good filler. Robert Klein, who has never been remotely enjoyable, is typical. Hudson’s friends are annoying and the two evil ad company rivals are like Robert Palmer girls who have unwisely been allowed to talk, rather than just stand there looking pretty. There’s even an uncle who farts a lot just in case you might be tempted to make the mistake that any of this is original or has any depth.

Still I liked it. And it was kind of fun as a date movie because it talks about all the things a girl can do wrong in trying to win over a guy. My girlfriend really got a kick out of saying “Hey, I do that!". So it was worth it just for that.

This movie is just frosting: all sugar, no substance, but still tastes good.

I’ll give it a C+