Review: 'How To Lose A Guy' Shimmers With Stars

Predictable Comedy Benefits From Talented Leads

'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days' (PG-13) (Out of four)

Most romantic comedies follow a basic format: Guy and girl meet cute, bicker their way through the relationship, break up and then one of them (usually the guy) realizes what an idiot she or he has been and desperately tries to catch their loved one, who is leaving town forever.

"How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" follows the formula perfectly. Also fitting the formula is the girl who writes fluff pieces for a woman's magazine, but who really wants to be a serious writer and create stories that matter. (Think TV's Maya Gallo character in "Just Shoot Me.")

When a movie's format is not particularly original, the two things that can save it are charismatic performers and clever writing. The script is enjoyable, but what really sparks in this movie are the performances by Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.

Hudson has the most difficult task in portraying Andie, a sophisticated urbanite who turns herself into a clingy, simpering cutsie-pie in order to write an article showing what women do to sabotage their relationships. In fact, at one point she is referred to as a crack-enhanced Kathie Lee Gifford, which is a pretty accurate assessment.

Andie makes Ben get her a diet soda in the last seconds of a big basketball game, she puts her female items in his bathroom, she makes him go to chick flicks and a Celine Dion concert and she even invades his weekly poker game.

On the other hand, McConaughey is trying to land a giant diamond account at his advertising agency even though the powers that be think that selling diamonds is better suited to a female team. Enter the bet -- if he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days, the account is his.

Of course, the two people with a 10-day agenda are paired up and the harder they try to accomplish their goal, the more determined each is to not admit defeat.

At least the movie didn't pull out the old standard, city woman/country boy dynamic. Ben and Andie start on an even playing field and it is not too hard to swallow that they might end up in love.

A particularly delightful sequence happens when Ben takes Andie home to Staten Island to meet his parents and they both begin to realize that something real may be happening.

There are so few moments of pure fun in movie theaters these days that films like "Two Weeks Notice" and "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" are rays of sunshine. Just sit back and enjoy the glow.

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