Chris_Gardner

Advertising executive Ben Barry (Matthew McConaughey) unknowingly bites off more than he can chew when he enters a relationship with journalist Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) who has her own secret. Barry has entered a bet with his boss that he can charm any woman into falling in love with him for ten days, while Anderson is doing her best to demonstrate all the things women should not do when dating for an article for her women's magazine. Realistic the Donald Petrie-directed film is not, but there's plenty to giggle at throughout – some of it predictable and some of it surprising. McCounaughey is all too charming in his role as Barry, having his patience tested at every stage of the relationship, while Hudson demonstrates a surprisingly diverse range with her switch from wholesome city slicker to psychotic girlfriend from hell. Carrying an M certificate, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days contains semi-adult themes and includes a small amount of sexual innuendo. An entertaining romantic comedy with a predictable climax. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is one for the girls, although that doesn't mean that boys won't enjoy it too. Just remember to be honest with one another afterwards!

The film chronicles the honeymoon of a perfectly matched American couple, Tom Leezak (Ashton Kutcher) and Sarah McNerney (Brittany Murphy), who head to Europe on honeymoon, where things take more than a turn for the worse. By the end of the honeymoon, due to a number of overreactions from each, a lack of communication and the keeping of a few secrets, the couple are at each other's throats. By the time they arrive back in America, as depicted at the start of the film, the pair have their hearts set on divorce. The problem, according to McNerney's rich family, is that she married somebody below their social standing when she tied the knot with Leezak. As far as he is concerned, she still has a thing from her ex-boyfriend. As the distracted Leezak goes back to work, at his regional radio station, he begins reminiscing about all the good times the couple had before they were married and the disaster of the honeymoon. Whatever happened, he asks himself? What is shown is a set of events which, seen from outside of the relationship, are nothing but slapstick. From within the relationship they are utterly disastrous and totally destructive. The honeymoon goes from farcical to heart breaking when McNerney's ex-boyfriend Peter Prentis (Christian Kane) shows up in Venice. A foolish decision on her part leads to her husband to jump to the wrong conclusions and sends the relationship into a nosedive. Leezak eventually, seeks solace with his father (Raymond J Barry) when he returns home. As father and son look back on happy times in a photo album Leezak is told that every marriage needs working at and none is perfect. The good times in a marriage, he says, are always shown in a photo album and the bad times often occur in between. What's important is how the couple deal with the bad times to get them through to the good times. In this modern age of crumbling relationships, where people wander aimlessly from one partner to another, it is refreshing to see Hollywood produce a pro-marriage film. Watching the chemistry between Kutcher and Murphy is a real treat, as both put in excellent performances which are both comic and serious with the right bent at the right time. Kane, too, delivers a solid performance as the sort of ex-boyfriend that viewers love to hate. He's smarmy to a T, but who gets the girl? Just Married (M), written by Sam Harper and directed by Shawn Levy, is now showing at The Regent Theatre in Te Awamutu.

The Rob Marshall directed musical, in the vein of Moulin Rouge but far less superior to it, won best picture, best supporting actress, best film editing, best sound, best art direction and best costume design at this year's Oscars. What Chicago lacks is any character's who the audience can sympathise with, or any characters that the audience can aspire to be like. It preaches the message that its alright to do anything and manipulate anyone if you can come out on top and who cares if someone is killed along the way. The film opens with Roxie Hart (Rene Zellweger) killing her lover in cold-blood and trying to get her good-hearted husband Amos to take the blame. Inevitably she ends up in prison, alongside former club singer Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) herself awaiting trial for the murder of her own husband and sister who were having an affair. Both are greasing the palm of prison Matron `Mama' Morton (Queen Latifah) who arranges help from Chicago's highly immoral lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), who is prepared to falsify evidence in order to win a case. The only character with an ounce of decency is Amos Hart (John Reilly), who pulls out all the stops to save his wife who cares so little for him. From an artistic standpoint the musical is superbly produced, the songs are wonderfully sung, the costumes are suitably eye-catching and the direction is top class. On the whole the film is enjoyable, but only if you don't get sucked in by its message.