Romantic comedies are a genre that is centered on a humorous plot line, including a romantic focus or ending. Individuals, such as myself, enjoy rom-coms for the idea that humor can be involved in a romantic way. Who does not enjoy a funny movie with cute moments or a movie that is witty and has sweet gestures? One of my favorite movies is How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. It may just be one of the greatest romcoms ever to exist (in my opinion).
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days stars Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson and Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry. The two actors portray each other’s love interest in a bet. The only problem is that neither of them knows that the reason they are seeing each other is to only benefit themselves and their work in the end. For example, Andie Anderson works at a journal company and wants to write about issues of importance or significance in the world. She does not find writing about shoes, clothes, or makeup interesting but rather politics and real-world problems. The deal is that if she writes an article about “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” and her boss likes it, she will be able to have “free range” over her articles and will get to choose the topics she wants to write. The catch? Andie has to find a potential love interest in a stranger and do all the things girls do to guys that make them lose interest. Some of these traits include being clingy, annoying, cringy, and controlling.
On the other hand, Benjamin Barry (Ben) is competing against two other female coworkers for a raise in his advertising firm. The deal is that he has ten days to make a girl fall completely and utterly in love with him in order for him to obtain a very important jewelry advertisement gig. If he fails, the gig goes to his coworkers. The catch for Benjamin is that Andie is amazing and the perfect fit for him. He thinks that this task will be easy. This is quickly not true as the ten days grow closer, Andie starts getting annoying, clingy, and emotional to which Ben gets upset and frustrated very quickly.
Throughout the movie, Ben puts on a good act, but so does Andie. Eventually, Andie and Ben go to visit his family. Andie gets to know the family, specifically through a card game called Bullcrap. During this trip, Andie starts to actually fall in love with him. Fast forward to a couple of days later, they are at Ben’s company event where, depending on Andie’s answer (whether she loves Ben or not), the female co-workers will get to present the new jewelry idea (if Andie falls in love with him) or he does if she did not. Ben’s boss asks Andie if she is in love, and she tries to deny it but cannot. The female co-workers find out that Ben now gets to present the jewelry idea. His co-workers go find Andie and ask her to say that she did not know about the bet and to play it off. She eventually finds out that it was a bet and gets upset. While this is happening, Andie’s boss is also there and is talking to Ben about a writer (Andie), writing a piece on how to lose a guy in ten days. Ben quickly finds out that he was a “project” for Andie’s writing. As one can imagine, this did not go over well.
Once Andie publishes her article, she changes it a bit, stating her feelings for Ben are true and not fake. Andie’s boss says that she can now write about anything… but is still on a leash with make-up, fashion, etc. Because of this, Andie decides to quit her job. As she is headed to another job interview, Ben catches up with her, and they both tell each other the truth. I am sure you can guess the ending… they fall in love.
