Average, not great

Rating: 6/10 (5 July 2003)

Though there was nothing horrible about any of the acting in this flick, it wasn't particularly believable either. As far as chick flicks go, this is a movie that you can take guys too without having them puke, which might be the highest compliment for this movie you can give.
The idea behind the story was sound, however it may not have had the best treatment of it in this film. A woman (Hudson) watches as various of her girlfriends make the classic relationship mistakes that drive boyfriends away. So she decides to write an article on how avoid the classic mistakes by setting up an experiment that will commit those very mistakes and drive a guy away in 10 days. The unbelievability of this story is that why it would take 10 days to drive a guy away, it should be much easier and faster than that if you're in a brand new relationship. If this were an established relationship of a few months or a few years old, then this would be a real challenge.
At the same time, the other party in this relationship (McConaughey) has made a bet that he could get a woman to fall in love with him within 10 days. And if this happens, then he will win a big advertising contract worth millions. So he has a vested interest in making sure the relationship works out. The sad thing about this is that why it would take a multi-million dollar contract to make you want to make a relationship work out, and not just for the sake of the relationship itself?
Eventually, they do fall in love (how surprising!), but it all felt a little hurried and unnatural.