HOW
TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ($30) is a perfectly enjoyable little date
movie that features the kind of central characters that audiences shouldn’t
like, but do, despite their obvious flaws. Finding romance and love almost
seems like the most elusive thing in the universe- and only seems to
happen to most people when they aren’t looking for it. That pretty much
typifies the plot of HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. Neither of the
two leading characters in HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS are looking
for love, and both have a hidden agenda that could possibly break the
other’s heart. For that reason, there is the potential for audience
members to dislike these characters. However, Kate Hudson and Matthew
McConaughey are such charming performers that audiences will not only like
their flawed character, but they will actually be rooting for
ill-conceived romance to succeed.
We’ve
all heard of "star crossed lovers," but the twosome of HOW TO
LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS would pretty much qualify as cross-purposed
lovers. As the movie opens, we are introduced to writer Andie Anderson
(Kate Hudson), who is working at a woman’s magazine where she is forced
to produce fluff content. Andie’s latest demeaning assignment entails
committing all the classic dating mistakes made by women for an article
titled- How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Andie’s victim turns
out to be advertising man Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey), who has to
get a woman to fall in love with him in order to win a bet and secure a
big jewelry campaign. As one might expect, no matter how hard Andie tries
to scare away Benjamin, he just keeps coming back for more abuse. Now
since HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS isn’t the first romantic
comedy ever produced by Hollywood, I’ll give you three guesses what
happens to these cross-purposed lovers. The cast of HOW TO LOSE A GUY
IN 10 DAYS also features Kathryn Hahn, Annie Parisse, Adam Goldberg,
Thomas Lennon, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow, Robert Klein and Bebe
Neuwirth.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS available
on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic
enhancement for 16:9 displays. Not surprisingly, this is another terrific
looking transfer of a brand new movie from Paramount. The image is pretty
much razor sharp and brimming with detail- like so many of the super
glossy "A" productions coming out of the major studios. Colors
always appear nicely saturated, yet the flesh tones always come across in
a fairly natural, but always appealing manner. Blacks are perfectly
rendered, as are the whites. Additionally, the image sports excellent
shadow detail and a good level of dimensionality. Digital compression
artifacts rarely made their presence known.
HOW
TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS sports a fairly typical comedy mix, which is
presented in the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format. Fidelity-wise,
everything sounds great- the incidental music and score have a great
presence and sound effects are always convincing. The material is dialogue
driven, so it doesn’t lend itself to too many active effects, but the
few that are there are well deployed. As expected, the forward soundstage
tends to dominate the mix, with the rears mostly being utilized for fill.
Ambient sounds do create a sense of space, which enlivens the more
intimate moments, as well as those take place outdoors. Dialogue is always
crisp and fully intelligible. The bass channel gets a few licks in, but
really doesn’t have all that much to do. An English Dolby Surround track
is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as the DVD’s supplemental section. First up
is a fairly informative running audio commentary featuring director Donald
Petrie, who discusses working with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey,
amongst other aspects of the production. Mapping Out The Perfect
Movie is a series of interviews with the cast & crew that give
one a look behind-the-scenes. Mapping Out The Perfect Location
is a bit on the interactive side- offering a map of New York locations for
the film and why they were chosen. The Keith Urban music video for Somebody
Like You is also included as are trailers for TOMB RAIDER II:
THE CRADLE OF LIFE, THE CORE and the upcoming DVD release of The
Indiana Jones Trilogy.
As
I stated above, HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS is a very enjoyable
date movie that should create a few romantic sparks. As for Paramount’s
DVD, it looks and sounds great, so if romantic comedies are you bag, you
can’t go wrong by picking up this sweet little disc.
HOW
TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ($30) is a perfectly enjoyable little date
movie that features the kind of central characters that audiences shouldn’t
like, but do, despite their obvious flaws. Finding romance and love almost
seems like the most elusive thing in the universe- and only seems to
happen to most people when they aren’t looking for it. That pretty much
typifies the plot of HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. Neither of the
two leading characters in HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS are looking
for love, and both have a hidden agenda that could possibly break the
other’s heart. For that reason, there is the potential for audience
members to dislike these characters. However, Kate Hudson and Matthew
McConaughey are such charming performers that audiences will not only like
their flawed character, but they will actually be rooting for
ill-conceived romance to succeed.
We’ve
all heard of "star crossed lovers," but the twosome of HOW TO
LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS would pretty much qualify as cross-purposed
lovers. As the movie opens, we are introduced to writer Andie Anderson
(Kate Hudson), who is working at a woman’s magazine where she is forced
to produce fluff content. Andie’s latest demeaning assignment entails
committing all the classic dating mistakes made by women for an article
titled- How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Andie’s victim turns
out to be advertising man Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey), who has to
get a woman to fall in love with him in order to win a bet and secure a
big jewelry campaign. As one might expect, no matter how hard Andie tries
to scare away Benjamin, he just keeps coming back for more abuse. Now
since HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS isn’t the first romantic
comedy ever produced by Hollywood, I’ll give you three guesses what
happens to these cross-purposed lovers. The cast of HOW TO LOSE A GUY
IN 10 DAYS also features Kathryn Hahn, Annie Parisse, Adam Goldberg,
Thomas Lennon, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow, Robert Klein and Bebe
Neuwirth.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS available
on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic
enhancement for 16:9 displays. Not surprisingly, this is another terrific
looking transfer of a brand new movie from Paramount. The image is pretty
much razor sharp and brimming with detail- like so many of the super
glossy "A" productions coming out of the major studios. Colors
always appear nicely saturated, yet the flesh tones always come across in
a fairly natural, but always appealing manner. Blacks are perfectly
rendered, as are the whites. Additionally, the image sports excellent
shadow detail and a good level of dimensionality. Digital compression
artifacts rarely made their presence known.
HOW
TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS sports a fairly typical comedy mix, which is
presented in the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format. Fidelity-wise,
everything sounds great- the incidental music and score have a great
presence and sound effects are always convincing. The material is dialogue
driven, so it doesn’t lend itself to too many active effects, but the
few that are there are well deployed. As expected, the forward soundstage
tends to dominate the mix, with the rears mostly being utilized for fill.
Ambient sounds do create a sense of space, which enlivens the more
intimate moments, as well as those take place outdoors. Dialogue is always
crisp and fully intelligible. The bass channel gets a few licks in, but
really doesn’t have all that much to do. An English Dolby Surround track
is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as the DVD’s supplemental section. First up
is a fairly informative running audio commentary featuring director Donald
Petrie, who discusses working with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey,
amongst other aspects of the production. Mapping Out The Perfect
Movie is a series of interviews with the cast & crew that give
one a look behind-the-scenes. Mapping Out The Perfect Location
is a bit on the interactive side- offering a map of New York locations for
the film and why they were chosen. The Keith Urban music video for Somebody
Like You is also included as are trailers for TOMB RAIDER II:
THE CRADLE OF LIFE, THE CORE and the upcoming DVD release of The
Indiana Jones Trilogy.
As
I stated above, HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS is a very enjoyable
date movie that should create a few romantic sparks. As for Paramount’s
DVD, it looks and sounds great, so if romantic comedies are you bag, you
can’t go wrong by picking up this sweet little disc.
