Popcorn Corner: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Directed by Donald Petrie
Written by Burr Steers, Brian Regan, Kristen Buckley 
Runtime: 1 h. 55 min.
Rating: PG-13 (for some sex-related material)
Genre: Romantic Comedy 

Two New Yorkers fight the battle of the sexes to a standstill (without entirely realizing it) in this romantic comedy. Andie (Kate Hudson) is a young journalist who longs to cover political stories, but in the meantime she finds herself writing for a women's magazine called Composure, where her editor Lana Jong (Bebe Neuwirth) has her writing a fluffy advice column. After hearing of the latest dating laments of her relationship-challenged friend Michelle (Kathryn Hahn), Andie sells Lana on the idea of writing a piece on the things women do to alienate the men they love, which she'll demonstrate by winning and then driving away a man in a mere ten days. Meanwhile, Ben (Matthew McConaughey) is an advertising man who wants to land a prestige diamond account at his firm. Ben is competing with his pals, Spears (Michael Michele) and Green (Shalom Harlow), for the assignment, so Ben tells his boss Phillip Warren (Robert Klein) that he's the man for the job because he understands the fair sex so well he can make any woman fall for him in less than two weeks. As fate would have it, Andie and Ben end up choosing one another for their mutual assignments, with neither knowing about each other's secret agenda as Ben strives to hold on to Andie while she does everything in her power to annoy him. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was loosely based on the self-help book of the same name (subtitled The Universal Don't of Dating) written by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long.

Okay, so this is kind of a classic rom-com already and I had already watched it when it was released (and loved it!) but since I was about 8 when that happened I thought it was time to revisit (also by the plea of a friend that completely love this movie) and see what I thought of it now and well, it was a completely different ride than I remembered. Oh, there will be spoilers on this post so if you have not watched this movie yet and intends too and hate being spoiled it would be best to stop reading now.

Since I already knew the premise of the story I wasn't really that caught up on the... well, silliness of these two finding each other (in NYC! srly, but anyway moving on), I was ready to be totally on board and not question their morals and how this would never, ever happen like never, and like I know this is fiction but still I end up bothered by Ben's bet (of making a girl fall in love with him in 10 days), I didn't remembered his part of the story so it seemed so ultimately lame that his boss would bet an account on it - especially such an important account, it was so ridiculous! Anyway, I tried to pass it and move on, I mean I was hoping swoons and I recalled some funny moments.

Andie's part of the story was doing everything to piss off Ben and get him to dump her in 10 days, and this did resulted on some laughs on my part, she made such over the top drama queen scenes that it made the movie laugh out loud at times. But it was way to far between to make it worth it.

But the worst part of this one was the romance, and unfortunately this is a rom-com that is heavily focused on the romance part. The first part of the movie is basically Andie acting like a total mental case and Ben not letting her go because he needs to win the bet, this part was okay and it went as expected from the premise of the movie. But then we have an scene where Ben and Andie go to Ben's family house and for some reason (okay, it's because Andie is already falling in love with Ben) Andie decides to not act like a completely bitch at that day, so OF COURSE Ben resolves to fall madly in love with her (because you're gonna completely overlook the flaws someone is showing you for seven days, only because of one day, yeah, anyway moving on). Of course that after that weekend Andie decides that she can't write the article because she was completely head over heels with her guinea pig. Of course her editor says to her to quit being a pussy and just write the article she is supposed to (let's not even talk about the levels of unprofessionalism of Andie and her editor).

Anyway, by this point they're both completely in love with each other but of course they find out about each other motives AND THEY DARE TO GET PISSED AT EACH OTHER - okay, so until this point I was like "this movie is okay, not baaaaaaaad, just not for me" but them this whole big fighting scene happened and OH MY GOD I hated this movie and these characters so much, let me explain to you, they both start shouting at each other in the middle of the street (like some big drama build up to make us cry, but we don't, 'cause they are lame) and Ben is like "WAS I YOUR GUINEA PIG???" (like he hasn't done a bet over her) and Andie is all like "WAS I JUST A BET??" (like she wasn't being the most sufferable person to Ben just to write an article). Then this classical phrase happens

And it's supposed to be like "AAAAAH" I guess, but it isn't, is lame, because ANDIE YOU DIDN'T WANTED A BOYFRIEND ON THE FIRST PLACE YOU WANTED AN ARTICLE, REMEMBER A THING CALLED YOUR CAREER? AND HOW MUCH YOU WANTED TO WRITE ABOUT IMPORTANT STUFF? (oh, yeah, Andie is also only writing on a woman's magazine because she can't seem to find a job where she can talk about important stuff, like politics 'cause she is so deep and stuff). Anyway, more things happen and them they get together on the end and I have to tell you THANK GOD, because imagine these two loose on NYC, imagine all the people that would suffer on their hands *shivers* oh no, these two definitely belong together.

Verdict: 1 out of 5 stars 

Popcorn Corner: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Written by Jason Segel, Judd Apatow
Runtime: 1 h. 58 min.
Rating: R (for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity)
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Peter Bretter has spent six years idolizing his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall. He's the guy left holding her purse in paparazzi photos and accidentally omitted from acceptance award speeches. But his world is rocked when she dumps him and Peter finds himself alone. After an unsuccessful bout of womanizing and an on-the-job nervous breakdown, he sees that not having Sarah may just ruin his life. To clear his head, Peter takes an impulsive trip to Oahu, where he is confronted by his worst nightmare: his ex and her tragically hip new British-rocker boyfriend, Aldous, are sharing his hotel. But, as he torments himself with the reality of Sarah's new life, he finds relief in a flirtation with Rachel, a beautiful resort employee whose laid-back approach tempts him to rejoin the world. He also finds relief in several hundred embarrassing, fruity cocktails.

If you're like me you probably wondered from where this gif is

This is a classic already

So I'm pleased to tell you that is from this movie that I'm reviewing right now! Forgetting Sarah Marshall is about Peter, a guy who loses her movie girlfriend after a six-years relationship, now he's moping around and trying to get over her but isn't working until he has the brilliant idea of going on a vacation to Oahu - a place that Sarah, his ex-girlfriend, always talked about going and when he gets there guess who is there? That's right Sarah and her new rock star british boyfriend. 

When I first read the synopses of this movie I thought it would be a hell of a cliche but it has Jason Segel as a writer and I love him from HIMYM so I decided to give it a shot and I'm so glad, this movie does have a lot of cliches from rom-coms but it's also something entirely new. The thing that makes this different from most rom-coms out there is the fact that is from a boy point of view, we follow Peter and his moping around. Second of all this is hilarious! I laughed out loud so many times, most of the funny moments come from Peter making a fool of himself because of Sarah (but he makes a fool of himself on other occasions too, don't worry). 

I also really liked the characters, I especially loved how Sarah was humanized at the end - she is basically portrait as the bitch who ditched the good guy to go out with a bad boy rock star, but at the end she and Peter have a talk and she is really honest with him about why she broke things up and yeah, we don't see that enough on rom-coms you know? Usually someone just turns out to be a dickhead and the main character couldn't see. Also loved Peter characters arc, I'm not gonna say much because spoilers but he really got to see his life from a different light during his vacation. Of course a big part of this change was his love interest, Rachel, a girl who works on the hotel and starts to hang out with him (probably out of pity, just saying haha) and end up helping him finally forget about Sarah Marshall - their story was cute, they start out as friends and I really liked how they balanced each other out and push each other out of their comfort zones. 

If you're still not sold on this movie just check the cast list: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer, Jonah Hill & William Baldwin (and these are only the most know faces!). Super recommended to everyone but specially to romantic comedies fans that are looking for something out of the formulatic. 

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars