How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) Film Review

Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a journalist who has become famous for her puff pieces despite her intelligence and ambition and is stuck writing a piece in which she intends to act like a crazy woman to end a new relationship. Ben Barry (Matthew McConaughey) is an ad executive who thinks he is better at his job than two women and the way he is going to do this is to make a woman fall in love with him (because that is logical). The two women have heard about Anderson’s piece and so, naturally, make her the mark. Now, can they survive ten days without giving up?

I watched this because I wanted something light and fluffy, that I expected I would get quite annoyed at, and I didn’t have the headspace for much at all. And I got it. It’s pretty appalling. I actually quite like both Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, so I could bear them. There was also the nice addition of Adam Goldberg, Kathryn Hahn and Bebe Neuwirth to get me through. But really, there is pretty much nothing new in this film at all. If you want a romantic comedy, you could do better, but you could do a lot worse.

 

Bride Wars (2009) Film Review

Wow, finally a bridal film that kicks a whole lot of goals for feminism. No wait, it does the absolute opposite, suggesting that being a high-powered lawyer or a teacher is not good enough. You have to get married and spend an insane amount getting married, and everything must be perfect, except, perhaps, the way you feel about your spouse or the way you treat everyone around you. So, Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) have a shared dream of the perfect June wedding at the Plaza Hotel. But when both get engaged within a day of each other and there is a mess-up on dates, leaving only one date available, they turn into Bridezillas and things get messy. But surprise surprise, neither is really happy and they miss each other.

Yawn. Despite a top cast, it is just awful. I really like Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, and then there was Kristen Johnston, Chris Pratt and even the wonderful Candice Bergen. Why was I thinking it would be any good? Just quietly, I didn’t. But I vaguely hoped that I would be wrong.

Almost Famous (2000) Film Review

It’s the seventies. William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is a fifteen-year-old boy with an unusual mother who has driven his older sister away, but as she left, she gave him her records, and rock and roll started to save his soul. Driven by his passion and some advice from legendary rock journalist Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), he manages to make friends with Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) and starts to hang out with Stillwaters, an up-and-coming band. Before he knows it, he is on tour with them; a teenager playing it older, out of his depth and learning a lot.

It felt real. It seems ridiculous that a young boy could end up in this situation, but I can imagine that, in the seventies, it could happen. I really liked the fact that everyone was effected by things; not just Patrick, not just Penny Lane, not even just Russel Hammond (Billy Crudup), the guitarist in the band and love interest for Penny. But also the other band members and the other groupies and especially Patrick’s mother, played by the almost wonderful Frances McDormand. This would be an excellent film for teaching film; not only does it hit all the marks, but it is interesting and fun and moving and ace.

Almost Famous won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Cameron Crowe) and was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kate Hudson), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Frances McDormand) and Best Film Editing.