Are Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson’s characters in love? Do they hate each other? Jess Bourne doesn’t think anyone quite knows. Not even the writers
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is one of the most annoying, cringe-inducing and predictable romance films to ever grace the screens.
You think Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson would be a dynamic duo, but they end up being the fictional version of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. You know they shouldn’t be together, you know it will end in heartbreak, but for some reason, they keep going back to each other. It’s love. No. No, it isn’t.
Kate Hudson plays journalist Andie, who’s written a column on how to get a man to dump you in just 10 days and wants to prove it’s possible to educate her emotionally needy pal. Matthew McConaughey is Benjamin, an advertising executive who’s been challenged to make a woman fall in love with him in checks notes 10 days. They meet in a bar. Game on. (And brain switched off).
Both Andie and Benjamin are conveniently single and decide to use each other to advance their career. Andie is a journalist and writes a ‘How to’ column, which is where she gets the idea to write about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. And Benjamin is an advertising executive and has been challenged to make a woman fall in love with him in ten days.
The only thing I like about this film is Kathryn Hahn. She plays a heartbroken middle-aged woman who just got dumped by her boyfriend. Even though she’d told him she loved him after just two days. Oh, and she cries at every minor inconvenience.
She is me. I am her. Only for the crying at every minor inconvenience though.
At this point in the film, it’s already starting to feel a little grim. Playing with people’s feelings for your own personal benefit is not something I want to watch. It may be entertaining in places but knowing that it’s all for show and you will be ghosting the other person in ten days is not what I want to spend my time watching.
Ben is the first one to become insufferable. He thinks after taking a girl to dinner and inviting her back to his place will make Andie fall in love with him instantly. Talk about being cocky and overly arrogant. I understand feeling an instant connection, but it’s not possible to fall in love with someone so quickly. Yes, it’s a romance, but have a reality check.
Andie then turns into an intolerable woman child. She squeaks every time she sees something she likes and can’t contain her excitement for more than five seconds. She’s like a kid on a sugar rush.
They both just become a walking ick – no wonder they were both still single in this film.
Andie quickly turns into the sort of woman that every man dreads getting involved with. Clingy, winy, unfiltered and infuriating. All women know that you only show the weirder side of you once there is some sort of commitment.
Instead of being called How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, it should have been renamed A Beginner’s Guide to How to Not Act in a Relationship. It was more like a self-help film rather than entertainment.
The film reignites my interest again when the flirting is passed off as joking. The romance is finally coming through and I could see the light at the end of the dark, painful tunnel.
Then, it’s almost as if I enter a coma. They go from liking each other, hating each other, and then realising that they are actually in love with each other. All in the space of 20 minutes. It was almost as if they couldn’t pick just one storyline, and so they had to go for multiple. It was a whirlwind, and I didn’t quite know where I was at one point. Are they still in love? Do they hate each other? I don’t think anyone quite knows. Not even the writers. It felt like the writers just fell asleep during the script meetings and had to just turn in their half-finished plot.
The fashion was ridiculously awful. I couldn’t stop staring at the low-rise jeans. They must have been so uncomfortable. And if this film advises me on one thing, it’s that I’m glad that I was only a little tot in the early 2000’s.
