HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN TEN DAYS

REVIEWED BY BETH FEAKER

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, innuendo

Rated:

An aspiring writer for an elite fashion magazine, Andie Anderson's one dream is to make her way to the very top and have the power to write on issues she feels strongly about, instead of just writing tips on boyfriends and shoes. One day she finds her dream is about to come true - her editor gives her an assignment that could jump-start her career. The assignment? To find a boyfriend, do all the wrong things to him, and get him to dump her...in essence, to lose a guy in 10 days, then write a best-selling column about the experience.

So she sets out to find a boyfriend that she won't mind losing in 10 days. She meets Ben (Matthew McConehay) at a party one night, and finds him the perfect candidate. The problem is, she doesn't know that he is only using her for a bet he made -- if he can make her fall in love with him in 10 days, his boss will give him the keys to the career of his life. That begins their relationship, and after a blissful first night together, they pull out the bait for each other. Ben is the ideal boyfriend, always sensitive and kind, and Andie (Kate Hudson) is the clingy girlfriend from nightmares, who makes him wear pink shirts and insists on wiping his nose for him in front of his buddies.

As the days go by Andie marvels at how this guy is still sticking with her, little suspecting that he is only trying to make her fall in love with him, and she begins to soften toward him. Meanwhile, Ben is beginning to see her good qualities, for unconsciously she's unsure she wants to lose him. But through a series of idle talk from their friends, they each find out what the other had been plotting, and must come to grips with the fact that they deceived each other....and they now have feelings they hadn't counted on.

How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days is one of the funniest movies I've seen. The acting is comedic timing at its best, and Matthew M. delivers a flawless performance as the used and confused boyfriend. It has many cute moments and scenes that are so funny they're almost classic. But the film drowns in an ocean of blatant sexuality. The message is that it's perfectly fine and natural for couples to sleep together after only knowing each other a few days, if not on their very first date. None of the characters give a quip about morality or commitment. When Andie realizes she's in love with Ben, we see the beginning of them being immoral in his parents' bathroom. Earlier, in an effort to lose him, Andie comes on to him strongly and attempts to annoy him by giving his male body part a "girlie" name. There's much innuendo and the characters touch each other inappropriately a few times.

In a worldly sense, this movie is a lot of fun, but in a godly sense, I found myself having to put aside my standards and only think about the positive scenes to enjoy it. Then I have to ask myself, is it ever right to put aside my standards for the sake of enjoying a movie, especially when those standards are so completely disregarded? Maybe How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days and it's acceptance of immorality and vulgarity won't affect me in a negative way. Maybe after all, it's just a movie. But it's not a chance I want to repeatedly take. In conclusion, my advice would be that if you have to see How To Lose A Guy, definitely wait until it comes out on video so you can fast forward.