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Romantic comedy genre still unable to entertain
Barbara Pezet
Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO
This lovely couple (Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey) share a motorcycle during a touching moment
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By starring in a romantic comedy, Kate Hudson is basically begging for a comparison to her mom, the irrepressible Goldie Hawn. And even through the harmless muck that is “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, she comes out on top, displaying Hawn’s energetic perkiness and a level-headedness that is all her own. Hudson shows that she has the chops for comedy both physical and intelligent—all she needs is something a bit less predictable, something where the best parts aren’t all given away in a two-minute trailer.
Hudson plays Andie Anderson, a writer for Composure magazine, a knock-off of
Cosmopolitan, in which the basic topics covered in its pages include men, sex, make-up, fashion, and shoes. Unfortunately for Andie, all she wants to do is write fascinating columns on politics, religion and the like, but until she proves herself to her editor, she’s stuck writing about “How to Choose the Right Nail Polish for Your Astrological Sign”—or some such piece of equally brilliant reporting.
But when her best friend gets dumped after a week-long relationship for the hundredth time, Andie perkily decides to write an article about doing everything wrong in a relationship—and Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) happens to be the guy that she selects to terrorize with love ferns and baby talk.
But what’s this? Ben also has a hidden motive; he’s made a bet that he can make any girl fall in love with him in ten days, so that he can land a big diamond campaign at his advertising firm. And so, theoretically, hilarity should ensue, with him trying to make her love him and her trying to make him run away screaming.
Sounds promising, right? It’s an idea that actually does have possibilities, and I for one was interested in a romantic comedy where both characters are underhanded liars right from the beginning. But somewhere down the line, “How to Lose a Guy” loses its charm, and becomes just another overly predictable chick flick.
The problem stems from the fact that the two main characters are absolutely perfect. At the beginning, we get the feeling that Ben is supposed to be a ladies’ man, never having a real relationship, just a string of one-night-stands and orgies. He also specializes in advertising campaigns for athletic equipment and alcoholic beverages, watches Knicks games during romantic dinners, drives a big, shiny motorcycle and is the envy of every male in his office. But he’s so smitten by Andie right from the get-go, it’s impossible to see him as some man’s man who needs to be tamed. How manly can you be when you know how to make “lamb with cherry glaze” to perfection?
And Andie is every male’s fantasy: blonde and gorgeous, works in an office surrounded by other “hot leggy chicks” (it seems no one can write for Composure if they have one ounce of body fat), loves basketball and prefers to talk intelligently about the world than just the subjects she’s paid to know about. She’s the best friend every woman wants, and the lady every man wants in bed.
With that much perfection, it’s tough to imagine any problems within the relationship; as they walk away together at the end (it is a romantic comedy, people), it’s obvious that this is the dream couple of Hollywood. One wonders what the two would ever fight about. A flawless woman meets the ideal man, and even while pretending to be a psychopath, it just doesn’t take. We know how great she is, and even while she’s begging for a soda at the climax of a sporting event or referring to a specific part of his anatomy as “Princess Sophia,” we can tell that Ben does, too. It’s a match made in heaven, according to Hollywood.
By the way, who in the real world really falls in love in only ten days?
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