There are so many reasons why I love HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. In my Gotham screenwriting class, we had to list our favorite movies and I said HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time my teacher heard that movie listed. I think he even did a double-take 🙂

Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan and Burr Steers wrote the screenplay based on the comic book by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long.

WHY I LOVE HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS

• Brilliant Premise
• Sparky Dialogue
• Set Scenes
• Inner Conflict
• Romance
• Rule of Three and Callbacks
• New York

PREMISE

The premise is brilliant because it insures that the two romantic leads in direct conflict. She is writing an article on how to lose a guy in 10 days making the mistakes some women make when dating (like being clingy or paranoid), so she is doing everything she can to lose him. He has to make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days and bring her to a client event in order to be able to pitch the diamond advertising account he wants. Basically no matter what she does, he is going to keep dating her.

The “diamonds are forever” angle adds another layer of conflict. He reminds himself that diamonds are forever, so this isn’t a one night stand. He wants to take it slow, changing the music and moving away from the bed; she is trying to make sure he is hooked by kissing him.

It’s also a twist on the “clumsy, emotionally open” romcom heroine because Andie is super cool and is only acting like the clingy and immediately emotionally open girlfriend to write the article.

SPARKY DIALOGUE

This one word dialogue exchange is so sparky and immediately showcases their chemistry and connection.

“Andie: Unattached?

Ben: Currently.

Andie: Likewise.

Ben: Surprising.

Andie: Psycho?

Ben: Rarely, Interested?

Andie: Perhaps.

Ben: Hungry?

Andie: Starving.

Ben: Leaving?

Andie: Now?”

From the script of HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS.

SET SCENES

The premise leads to some hilarious set scenes as she gets more and more desperate in her attempt to lose him. There’s the scene where he’s cooking a lamb dinner (“bringing out the big guns” to make her fall in love with him), and she has brought over a box of girly things to move into his apartment, even though it’s only the second time she’s been there. The frilly toilet cover was a particularly good touch. Her interrupting his poker night with the boys is another hilarious scene.

INNER CONFLICT

What’s also well done is that Andie and Ben are falling for each other, which renders Andy conflicted about behaving like a crazy girlfriend and even about writing the article.

Meanwhile, Ben feels like he’s dating two people:

Thayer:

“I thought you said after the Knicks games, she was a goddess.”

Ben

“Oh she was. That was the good Andie, this amazing, fun cool, sexy woman. I’m talking about the evil Andie now. It’s like a crack-enhanced Kathie Lee Gifford”

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS

This personality switch first happens at the Knicks NBA final basketball game. At first, they’re both having a great time, and then Andy remembers that she has to be a nightmare girlfriend, so, in the last minutes of a tight tied game, she asks Ben to get her a soda.

ROMANCE

The romance is also well-developed, starting from their cute meet to their clicking at the basketball game. But it’s at the weekend with his family in Staten Island, when Andie is herself again, that their feelings deepen and they both acknowledge that they feel something real for the other. She plays Bullshit with his family and learns that she’s the first girl he has ever brought home. He then teaches her how to ride a motorbike. And she gets emotional about the fact that his mom hugged her. Their kiss then is a more heartfelt, slow kiss.

CALLBACKS

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS illustrates certain comedy techniques, namely Callbacks. First, in the dinner scene, she brings the baby fern over: “it’s a baby fern, just like our relationship, a helpless little baby in need of tender, loving care.” Second, when she interrupts his poker night, she sees that the baby fern is wilting (“Our love fern! You let it die!) and asks if he is going to let their relationship die. And finally, when Ben is pursuing her to win her back, he picks up the wilted love fern from her office and brings it to her.

The basketball game is also a recurring callback:

• the first game, when she makes him miss the final moment
• the second game: he thinks they will watch it from home, but she says she doesn’t eat meat so they have to go out and eat at a restaurant where he can’t see the game
• the third game: he thinks she has front row tickets (she doesn’t)
• the final game: they don’t watch it in at Madison Square Garden because they’ve broken up

Similarly, there’s a callback to the Bullshit game when she says she has to go to Washington D.C. to write the more substantive articles she wants to write and he says “bullshit.”

NEW YORK

And finally, it’s a love letter to New York with all the street scenes, the Knicks games, and even a visit to Staten Island.

Let’s Talk

Those are the reasons why I love HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. What are your favorite lines and scenes from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? What do you love about it? Do you have other favorite romantic comedies?