How to Lose a Guy: a not-so-romantic comedy

If the formula for love was to take a boy and a girl, give them contradictory bets that meant lying, deceiving the other person, and pretending to be who they’re not, then How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is the solution we’ve all been looking for.

This unoriginal romantic comedy illustrates the worst possible beginning to a relationship, attempting to show its audience the humor in the ridiculous circumstances the plot follows. Andie Anderson, played by the ever-charming Kate Hudson, is trying to get her foot in the door at Composure magazine by writing entertaining "how-to" articles. (Her dream is to write about issues of poverty and politics, not that these issues are ever included in her daily conversations.) Her next assignment is given, and the bet begins: she must find a new boyfriend and then get him to dump her within ten days by acting out the clingy, needy stereotype which guys can’t stand.

Luckily it doesn’t take this beautiful blonde long to find a love interest; unfortunately for her goals, he happens to have a bet of his own. Matthew McConaughey plays Benjamin, who is vying to win a new advertising campaign for a diamond company. As the laid-back sports fanatic, his associates doubt his capabilities in this "sensitive" area, so to prove his worth he vows that he can get a girl to fall in love with him in (you guessed it) ten days.

Put these two together and some very funny moments result; Andie scares the female gender almost as much as the male with her strategies of decorating, invading on guys’ poker night, and pet names. Hudson carries off her humorous role well, going from one extreme to the next with her wild schemes. I did have to wonder how this nightmare of a girlfriend has come to be possible in today’s society; I hope for everyone’s sake that this behavior is rarely reality.

Andie and Ben give you a glimpse of their chemistry before they transform into the most unlikable versions of themselves, making their underlying "love" unbelievable even to the hopeless romantic. The clichés and extreme predictability of this movie make it less than entertaining. There are not enough redeeming moments to make the movie worth seeing, but go if you must in order to have a few laughs, with the knowledge that nothing you see is an accurate portrayal of the dating world.

And don’t try to answer the question of how two people who act this way can truly fall in love (since they can’t), because that’s not what romantic comedies are for.