Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a how-to writer in a fashion magazine. Her dream is to write political pieces, but she slogs away in the world of shoes and mascara with a boss (Bebe Neuwirth) who kicks off each staff meeting by telling the girls to kick off their shoes and breathe in and out slowly. Andie's newest assignment is to meet a guy, get him to fall in love, and then dump him, all in a week and three days.
Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaghey) wants to land the biggest advertising account in his company, but in order to do it, has to meet a girl and get her to fall in love with him in the same ten week period.
As luck (and remarkable co-incidence) would have it, the same buxom femme-fetale ("E.R."'s Michael Michele) gets wind of both bets and plants the two of them together.
What follows is about an hour and twenty-one minutes of fairly clever dialogue and agonizing situations. Andie takes Ben to the championship Knicks game (yeah, like that could happen) and forces him to get her a soda in the last minute of a two-point game. She shows up to throw cold water on his boys-night poker game. She drags him to (gasp!) a Celine Dion concert. Ben of course has to wear his game face in order to get him to the "big dance" in ten days.
As these situations continue and get progressively more painful, they also seem to try too hard. Are there really that many single males that STILL have weekly poker nights? Of course the two of them are going to really fall for each other, and true love will triumph. Unfortunately, when the ending is that obvious, it becomes more of a chore to get there.
Kate Hudson is a terrific performer. Her mischievous glances and adept comic timing mirror her mother's early career in films such as "Shampoo" and "Private Benjamin." Matthew McConaughey does what he does best, and that is to be affable and to include one gratuitous bare chest scene.
Ms. Neuwirth and Robert Klein are poorly used here, as well, particularly Klein. As luck would have it, there was an old Robert Klein comedy concert on HBO after I got home from the movie, and I was reminded that vintage Klein would have made fun of movies like this one.
In a nutshell, guys, if the little lady wants a date movie, you could do a lot worse than this one. There are a lot of good belly laughs in this film, particularly in the first half. But if you're looking for a better film, look to "Chicago".
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/3/182287