How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Directed by Donald Petrie. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Thomas Lennon, Adam Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth, Annie Parisse, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow, Robert Klein, James Murtaugh, Celia Weston, Liliane Montevecchi. [PG-13]

She’s a women’s magazine writer (Hudson) who has to hook a bachelor and then turn around and do everything she can to turn him off within ten days for a gimmicky column. He’s an ad exec (McConaughey) who has to get a “random” woman to fall in love with him to land a deal that’s ten days away. The movie is an overextended, ultra-contrived pileup of dumb gender stereotypes that negates whatever charm and comic energy the stars attempt to bring to the sitcom shenanigans. As Hudson’s willful boss, Neuwirth comes closest to carving out a character worth paying attention to, but alas, even she turns out to be made of cardboard. No wit, no romance, no surprises, no relief in sight. It’s always a bad sign when pain starts being inflicted as early as the overproduced opening credits. Based on a picture book without a story of “dating don’ts” (by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long), which makes it a faithful translation: this movie has lots of pictures and no story, so don’t.

20/100