Paramount Pictures | 2003 | 115 mins. | Rated PG-13
Matthew McConaughey got his big break back in 1996 in A Time to Kill, playing a lawyer who defended a black man accused of killing his young daughter’s rapists. Kate Hudson’s big break came in 2000’s Almost Famous. In the Oscar nominated role she played Penny Lane a sweet, albeit confused groupie. Since then, with few exceptions both actors have done a string of largely formulaic romantic comedies. In 2003, Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson teamed up for How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. While the plot is goofy and the plot is pretty shallow, How to Lose a Guy works well enough to find fans among those that enjoy the romantic comedy genre.
Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is an attractive writer for a woman’s magazine named Composure. She writes “How to” articles for the mag; as the film opens, her best friend, Michelle (Kathyrn Hahn), a woman who seems to chase away every guy she dates, serves as the inspiration for a article, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” Andie’s plan is to find a total stranger, win him and then purposely commit all the “classic mistakes” that Michelle makes in order to get him to dump her, all within 10 days. She’ll keep a diary of her experiences and use it to write the article. Her editor, Lana Jong (Bebe Newwirth), loves the idea.
At the same time, Ben Barry (Matthew McConaughey), a handsome advertising executive, is trying to land a diamond-company deal and e talks his boss, Phillip Warren (Robert Klein), into letting him have the account if he can win a bet with him. He bets his boss that he can find a total stranger, win her and bring her with him as his true love to a big, splashy party the agency is throwing in ten days for the diamond people.
There are no surprises here. Both these people have a scheme going and they both choose each other as the target. While Andie tries to act as obnoxiously as she can so Ben will dump her, Ben does the opposite so she will fall in love with him. Basically, this film forces you to suspend reality, because no man would put up with a woman who acts as rudely as Andie. But then again, this is Hollywood, the land where anything is possible. The secret to getting any enjoyment out of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is to forgot about the plot and remember that the reason the characters are the way they are is to make them humorous to viewers.
There is one rather cute scene: Andie interrupts one of Ben’s poker nights with the boys. “Oh,” exclaims Andie, “our love fern is dead!” “No,” says Ben, “it’s just sleeping.”
In case you hadn’t guessed, Andie and Ben do end up falling in love. But I guess it wouldn’t be a proper romantic comedy if they didn’t.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days comes to Blu-ray with an okay but not great 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. Though it fluxuates between sharp and slightly soft, the image has an average film-like quality. The transfer also possesses a decent sense of depth, background detail and a fine layer of visible film grain. Colors are a bit dull and never seem to pop off the screen. While detail is okay, you won’t see fine things like the individual hairs on Matthew McConaughey’s arms. There is some noticeable dirt and other artifacts to be seen throughout and flesh tones waver between fair and slightly red in appearance. While How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days delivers an adequate transfer, it’s far from reference quality.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days makes its Blu-ray debut with a bland Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The sounds of the city as heard during several exterior shots produce the best sounds in the film. Buses squeal and clank down the street, traffic flows from side to side, and pedestrians hurriedly scuffle along. Otherwise, this one comes off as front-heavy and boring. Music plays with the expected level of clarity across the front and dialogue reproduction is fine. It works, its just lack any punch.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days has the following special features:
• Commentary Track with Director Donald Petrie. He discusses the look of the film, the cast, setting up the primary plot, shooting particular scenes, etc.
• How to Make a Movie in 2 Years (1080p, 16:54) features Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long, authors of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, discussing how the book came about. The piece moves on to feature a look at how the book became a movie.
• Why the Sexes Battle (1080p, 5:00) features a series of interview snippets with experts that discuss the evolution of how men and women choose one another and how those observations fit into the movie.
• Girls Night Out (1080p, 5:15) once again turns to authors Alexander and Long for a question and answer session.
• Music Video (480p, 3:43) “Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban
• Deleted Scenes (480p, 9:30) there are five with optional director’s commentary.
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