Based on the book by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long, Andie Anderson is a vigorous young news reporter for the women's magazine "Composure" and she's on a quest to be taken seriously, so in an attempt, she creates a new report "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" in which she'll commit all the usual clichés a woman commits to lose a man, meanwhile Ben Barry, a young lady killing advertising executive bets his boss that can get a girl to fall in love with him in ten days before their unveiling of a major account, but as the two are oblivious to the other's intentions, they'll engage in a battle of wits and will as Anderson pulls every trick in her bag to detract Barry, but can she do it without falling in love with him?

I'm not a fan of romantic comedies, and these days they all seem to have something in common and it's something that was never present in the classic romantic comedies: these days romantic comedies are incredibly bland. As bland as bland can be, so it was no surprise I entered this film with lower than low expectations.

But I managed to actually be surprised at how entertaining and enjoyable this was to watch. First off, I'm in love with Kate Hudson, so it wasn't a completely difficult time watching her in this film, and I actually laughed here and there. Hudson and McConaughey pull in two hilarious performances as two people who are attempting to outdo each other.

Hudson, who's usually very charming in films like "Almost Famous" and "About Adam", is at her funniest as she attempts to detract McConaughey's character Ben and what's funny is while he's betting she'll fall in love with him, he has no idea why she begins to act so psychotic and moody and clingy and McConaughey actually manages to pull off deadpan reactions to the character Anderson's stunts which prompt for some of the funniest scenes in the film including bringing her dog over just to have it urinate on his poker table, become increasingly moody, a very funny scene involving couples therapy between the two, a scene in which she pops up at his apartment to ruin his poker night, and (one of the funniest scenes) when Andie brings over a photo album with pictures of their children included in the book.

McConaughey (A Time to Kill, Dazed and Confused) is very funny, which is surprising considering he's not one of my favorite actors. He pulls off incredible deadpan reactions to Hudson's madness as she drives him up the wall. One of the funniest scenes is when Hudson takes him to couples counseling and she and the therapist begin ganging up on Ben; perhaps one of the funniest scenes in the film, especially when we learn she named his privates "Princess Sophia".

Hudson is very funny and charming in this film and manages to pull off the emotional highs, psychotic episodes, and emotional breakdowns to a tee which prompt Ben to look on in shock and simply tolerate her until the bet is won. Hudson pulls off the personalities very well and manages to help some predictable comedy scenes become very funny.

The story reminded me of Capra's "It Happened One Night" with Gable and Colbert in which the two must endure and outdo each other and inevitably grow fond of one another. There's actually chemistry between the two who attempt to outdo each other and put up with one another's quirks while they're never really sure why one is reacting a certain way.

McConaughey is helped by hilarious supporting performances by Adam Goldberg (Dazed and Confused, Saving Private Ryan) and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911, A Guy Thing) who also commit to deadpan reactions and laugh inducing one-liners as they witness Hudson's madness and attempt to counsel the character Ben in putting up with Andie until the bet is over.

Lennon who is usually funny in everything he's in, and Goldberg who is also a very gifted actor help the story move along well. The energy and tone of the story kept me simply entertained and I was surprised to find I enjoyed this pretty much.

These characters are not likable in the least and it doesn't help that there's barely any focus on their personalities. McConaughey's character Ben is smug, egotistic, and vain which makes it hard to sympathize for him when he realizes he's been duped, and Hudson's character is eager to a fault, callous, and simply cruel in her motive to trick a guy into thinking she's in love with him and ruining their relationship within a matter of days.

It's hard to feel or sympathize for characters that are basically annoying and despicable. Meanwhile there are numerous actors in the film that are simply wasted including Robert Klein, Bebe Neuwrith, and many others who are used just as plot devices and caricatures.

There also seem to be convenient plot twists that are so blatantly included into the mix it's hard to figure out why they'd be included in the first place because they simply insult the audience's intelligence.

When the character Andie takes the character Ben to therapy just to be ganged up on, the therapist (who is simply Andie's friend pretending to be legit), suggests they go away for the weekend. Why? Maybe it's to assume she'd sabotage the trip for him, but we're never told so, so it simply becomes a plot development where Hudson's character realizes she likes Ben. Plus, knowing she's such a nutcase why would Ben even agree to take Andie home to see his family knowing she'd ruin things and become psychotic?

Also, if she's such a smart reporter how come she couldn't figure out that the best way to trigger a breakup is to pop in unannounced on the character Ben's poker night yet must be told to do so from her friends? It makes you question her character's true credibility and makes you wonder why we're watching these two dimwits in the first place.

Boy, it was funny at the first half and I was sucked in from the beginning but somewhere down the line along the second half things took a turn for the worse. It seems Hollywood can't pull off an original romantic comedy without tainting it with the usual safe happy ending where the two realize they love each other.

I was very disappointed because while the film was original in the beginning with the episodes from Hudson, everything completely went from good to terrible towards the climax. Along with a terrible ending, there's also a numerous range of plot inconsistencies that insult the audiences intelligence. Halfway through the two are told about the separate bets and they begin to confront one another in one of the more awful sequences where the two sing a medley of "You're So Vain" in front of a stunned audience of party-goers; a scene that is
so awful I was literally cringing in my seat as the ending continued progressing.

It then continues taking a turn for the worse as Hudson's character realizes she loves McConaughey's character. It's a safe plot progression that shows how the film is afraid to just take an original plot turn.

Hudson is then conveniently offered a job in Washington which prompts the obligatory scene in which McConaughey's character chases her taxi on his motorcycle to confess his love to her and chases her down on the highway before she gets to the airport, which prompts them to kiss and confess their love on a highway considering the fact that if someone actually stopped a car on a New York city bridge there'd be traffic backup for miles, and police would eventually intervene.

There's even a ridiculous character move in which McConaughey pays the taxi driver to turn around and take Andie's luggage back to her apartment, a ridiculous move considering that anyone who lives in a city (or in their right mind) knows that trusting money and luggage to a taxi driver and trusting a taxi driver to turn around and drive back is not only incredibly foolish, but it's a stunt no city dweller would ever pull, but then there's plenty of characters moves in the film that no one would pull.

In the end, the climax is safe and fluffy and doesn't respect its audiences intelligence simply starting off as a madcap comedy to just another bland cookie cutter romantic comedy.

This was funny, entertaining, well-acted, engrossing and original, but it all seemed to go into a downward spiral in the climax with a cliché, cookie cutter, and safe ending that doesn't really deliver to the audience and insults the target audiences intelligence.

• Gwyneth Paltrow (Sylvia, Shallow Hal) was originally going to star.
• One of the films at the chick flick marathon is 1988's "Mystic Pizza" also by director Donald Petrie.