• Matthew McConaughey
• Kate Hudson
• Adam Goldberg
• Thomas Lennon
• Michael Michele
• Annie Parisse
• Kathryn Hahn
• Bebe Neuwirth
• Robert Klein
• Liliane Montevecchi
• Samantha Quan
• Shalom Harlow

Grade: B
By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" may sound like a new reality TV show — say, the sequel to "Joe Millionaire" — but it's in fact a cute romantic comedy, starring the very cute Kate Hudson and the very cute (but manly) Matthew McConaughey.

It's also could be the first workplace comedy-romance initially propelled by purely careerist reasons. Think about "Working Girl" or the Rock 'n' Doris pictures, even "Desk Set" with Tracy and Hepburn. All these films were predicated on romantic attraction within a business setting. This picture's love story is set in motion by people trying to get what they want from their bosses. What they get from each other is merely a means to an end.

Our protagonists/predators meet at a busy Manhattan singles bar. Andie (Hudson) is a columnist for Composure, the kind of upscale magazine that publishes stop-press news like, "Lip Gloss Is In! Lip Liner Is Out!" Andie's column is along similar lines: "How to Talk Your Way Out of a Ticket" or "How to Feng Shui Your Apartment." She'd rather write about politics or religion, and her boss (the ever-good Bebe Neuwirth) promises she'll consider it if Andie delivers one last "how-to" column: "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."

Meanwhile, advertising hotshot Ben (McConaughey) is determined to prove to his boss (Robert Klein) that he can handle a major-league diamond account, even though he's a guy. In fact, he insists, he probably knows women better than they know themselves. To prove it, he makes a bet that he can make any woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Forget about opposites attract; these two corporate-climbers are made for each other.

Now, you don't cast stars like Hudson and McConaughey and not have them fall in love. But watching each try to impose his or her agenda on their relationship is very funny and, eventually, very romantic. Some of the scenes are too broad and some of the love stuff is too squishy. Still, many of the jokes are laugh-out-loud good.

Consider this situation: Andie's woebegone best friend, Michelle (Kathryn Hahn), has just been dumped by a guy she's known for all of a week. (Admit it, you've been there.) "It was the best week of my life," she moans. "Then he started getting busy and I didn't know where he was. So I kept calling and calling and, anyway, I know why he dumped me. I'm too fat."

There it is: how to chase a guy away in three sentences.

Andie's tactics are more direct. She fills Ben's medicine cabinet with feminine hygiene products, ruins his poker night, and buys "us" a dog. She also nicknames his private part ("Princess Sophia"). But no matter what she does to lose him, this guy won't get lost. As for Ben, he grins and bears it, and bears it and bears it.

The movie has the right waggish yet smitten tone. Manhattan looks lushly romantic. The pair do New York things, like go watch the Knicks or eat in tony restaurants. When Andie chooses Ben as her victim, her friends say, "Good luck! Be safe!" as if she were sailing solo across the Pacific.

"How to Lose a Guy" smoothly satirizes the superficiality of man-hungry women and the soullessness of sex-hungry men. Like "The Wedding Planner" or "Mystic Pizza" (which this movie's director, Donald Petrie, also did), this film doesn't want to get serious with you. It just wants you to have a good time.