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HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS
Deluxe Edition

Review by Chastity Campbell

Stars: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey
Director: Donald Petrie
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Paramount
Features: See Review
Length: 115 Minutes
Release Date: August 18, 2009

“Does Princess Sofia want to come out and play? Let’s see...big or small, big or small…”

“Princess Sofia? How about Spike, or Butch, or Krull the Warrior King?”

Film ****

One of the hardest things to do in life is find someone that you can love, and who loves you in return.   Having a relationship with someone is hard work, and can put you through more ups and downs than an amusement park roller coaster.   There has to be trust, honesty, and above all else, you have to be willing to say I’m sorry and mean it.

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is a love story that breaks every one of those rules but in the end finds a way to make things right again.  

Meet Andie Anderson, a column writer for Composure Magazine.  Andie has a gift for being able to take any topic and turn it into a how-to column.   Andie dreams of one day being a political journalist, but until that time, she’ll have to make herself content with telling women how to do everything from losing 10 lbs in a week to picking the perfect eye liner.   

Enter Benjamin Barry, a very eligible and sought after Advertising Executive who is every woman’s dream (according to him) and has a career that is on the fast track. 

Now what do you suppose will happen when Andie decides to write a column on How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, and Benjamin makes a high stakes bet that he can make any woman his co-workers choose fall in love with him in ten days?  When his co-workers choose Andie, and Andie picks him for her column, a whole lot of funny, that’s what!

Pairing up Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson was quite frankly one of the best Hollywood combos I’ve seen in a while.  All too often you get people put together who look good but don’t connect, or connect but don’t look good.   Hollywood is selling an illusion in movie form and if we, the movie going public ,sense any kind of disconnection between the actors, then sorry man, but I’m not buying.   That is not the case with this film, because right from the start you’ve got the sexy, playboy smile of McConaughey combined with the energetic and equally sexy Hudson, which creates a very likeable couple.  

I got to see this flick in theatres when it first came out, and it was only the second time I had seen Kate Hudson on the big screen.   When Almost Famous came out, I trekked to the theatres to see it.  I totally expected her to be nothing more than a Hollywood actor’s kid, riding the coat tails of her famous mother. (For anyone who has not yet made the connection, Kate Hudson is the daughter of Hollywood honey Goldie Hawn.)  She has really surprised me with her performances in Almost Famous, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, and the recently release Alex & Emma, where she stars alongside Luke Wilson.   Each character is molded around her own persona to become individual entities.   She doesn’t seem to be a repetitive kind of actress, and it doesn’t hurt that you can see a little bit of her mother in her.

What is there that I can say about Matthew McConaughey that people (women more respectively) all around the world don’t already know?  He’s a great actor with a wonderful talent for making each role he takes stand out.  He is smart, sexy, and definitely, at the top of his game.   Pairing him with Hudson as I said before was a very good thing. 

The dialogue in this movie was very well written.  Each character was able to put a little bit of him/herself into the role, and make it their own, and still maintaining the high quality of the script.   I really like the way each of the secondary characters and supporting cast play off of each other, with rapid fire, quick-witted jargon. 

The director for this flick, Donald Petrie is no stranger to comedies.  He was the man working the strings behind Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, a movie that I purchased on day one of its release and have recommended to everyone I know.   Petrie has the ability to flesh out each scene in a way so nothing is sacrificed, and yet everything is made simple.  From his up close and personal camera angles, to his wide sweeping motion shooting, he can tell a story without any dialogue at all.   That’s a trick some directors could learn a thing or two about.  

Packed with plenty of features, and bursting with personality, this disc is a must have.   You can’t call it a chick flick because it gives equal time to each of the opposite sexes.  So pick it up and give it a spin, just be careful, all the laughing you’ll do might make ya dizzy!

Video ***

This DVD is presented in a 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format that was without a doubt one of the best I’ve seen this year.  I really enjoyed the clean and crisp look to each of the images.   About 98% of the time, colors were crisp and vivid, almost bursting off the screen.  There were however, a few places throughout the disc where the tone in the coloring seemed a little flat.  It wasn’t anything that detracted from the over all experience but things that are noticed must be mentioned.

Audio***

The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround on this disc was a blend of very good and just good. 

When I review the audio on a disc, one of the things I watch for is if I have to go up and down with my audio button.   The features were really constant, and I didn’t notice any dips or fluctuations when going from one to the other.  When I watched the movie I had to kick things up a notch, or two, ok three.   It was the only audible flaw that I noticed, so overall, this disc’s audio was pretty awesome.    I have to give it high marks, because this is one really well put together disc.

Features ***

It feels like forever since I have reviewed a disc with a hefty list of features, but this disc weighs in and tips the scales where the extras are concerned.

Commentary by Director Donald Petrie gives you a good look at the thought and effort that went into make this wonderful movie.   We get to find out key decisions for keeping and cutting some scenes as well as information about working with both Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.

Three new featurettes, "How to Make a Movie in Years", "Why the Sexes Battle" and "Girls Night Out" go a little further into the creation of the film.  Rounding out are a music video for “Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban, as well as five scenes that were deleted from the movie.   You can watch these scenes with or without director Donald Petrie’s comments.

Summary: