attempt at a rom-farce

Rating: 5/10 (6 September 2014)

Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) writes fluff for Composure magazine and longs for more substantive articles. She has a work friend Jeannie (Annie Parisse). Her other flustered friend Michelle Rueben (Kathryn Hahn) is the inspiration for a new article for her boss Lana Jong (Bebe Neuwirth) 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'. Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) is an advertising executive competing with co-workers Judy Spears (Michael Michele) and Judy Green (Shalom Harlow) for the right to pitch the biggest diamond merchant. Spears and Green know about the article. They come up with a contest to have Benjamin seduce Andie in 10 days for the right from their boss Phillip Warren (Robert Klein) to do the pitch.
The problem for this rom-com is that both parties are faking it. It makes it hard to decipher any real chemistry in the relationship. It's not until Andie meets the family does the romance starts. It's a very late start. They are good at their jobs and pull it off. However there is a real need for both of them to sacrifice something to push the romance over the top. The comedy part has some good points. The problem there is that it feels very one directional. It's all about Andie annoying Ben. It would be better if Ben actually had a deeper game. He's very superficial. He needs the girl but it seems like he's just not bringing the whole playbook. He needs to show that he's really trying rather than passively taking it from Andie. It's an attempt at something different than the traditional rom-com but it's not all together successful.