Are You Calling My Bluff?

2012 has been a big year for Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.  Kate, settling in to life in London with her fiancee and new baby boy, landed the Ann Taylor campaign for summer, showcasing these gorgeous pics that have sent me into the store during recent trips to the mall.

And as for Matthew, he finally married his lady love and baby mama last weekend!  Alright alright alright!

This got me thinking about one of the best chick flicks out there.  How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days came out nearly 10 years ago!  I mean it when I say they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

10 Reasons I adore How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

1.  The style, obviously.  From Andie's sophisticated work clothes to her summer dresses, this movie defines chick flick chic. 

And this practically iconic yellow dress. 

If I curated a museum of romantic comedy styles (wouldn't that be fun?!) this dress ( and the Isadora diamond of course!) would be my star exhibit.


2. Matthew McConaughey made an ad executive sexy and swoonworthy long before Don Draper. You just know when Benjamin Berry pulls up to work on his motorcycle, vaguely sexually harasses his two coworkers, and strips off his tee to button up a dress shirt.  You just know that he's a bad boy you're going to love in spite of it all.

3. This was the first movie I saw Kate in and I just think she is enchanting as Andie Anderson.  She's cool, confident, ambitious- can we be friends?

4. It seems like chick flicks these days primarily are centered around weddings and babies. That's all fine, but isn't it refreshing to revisit a  romantic farce where the lead characters are ruthless to get ahead in their careers- yet still fall for each other? 

5. That's why the turning point for Ben and Andie, their visit with his family in Long Island, is so important.  They have to let down their guard, they laugh and tease, for the first time in these 10 days, they aren't pretending.

6. And it brings us to one of the sweetest, and most surprising love scenes out there.  Complete with one of my very favorite songs, seeing Ben and Andie smooch their way into the shower is somehow hot AND heartwarming.

7. Besides a shirtless Matthew McConaughey, this is a chick flick that guys LOVE.  Which made it the perfect date movie and the now perfect movie to convince your boyfriend to "watch" as he naps on a Sunday afternoon.

8. How to Lose a Guy is laugh out loud funny and provides us with a few of my favorite quotes.

"Nobody likes a Mr. Sniffles!"  " I hate Mr. Sniffles."  "Blow! White- healthy boy!"

"Mary had a little lamb, little lamb . . . you have to take it away before I gag!" 

"Does Princess Sofia want to come out and play?  Little, big, little, big . . . I don't know we will find out!"

9. From Kathryn Hahn's hilarious performance as a desperate and needy ex girlfriend, to Andie's outrageous antics as she tries to "lose" Ben, this movie is ripe with cliches on how to become a crazy ex girlfriend.  I think every girl watches this and says "Omg I once had a friend who acted like that girl!" while internally lamenting " Omg I once acted like that girl!"  Ben says it best when he asks "Where's the sexy, cool, fun, smart, beautiful Andie that I knew? The one that wanted to be a serious journalist? You're up, you're down, 
you're here, you're there, you're like a frickin' one woman circus."  Can we blame PMS?

10. Watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is 100% worth it if only for the scene when Ben arrives to take Andie to the diamond ball and sees her in the all dressed up.  He takes a deep breath, hand over his heart and sighs "You're  . . . beautiful."

Am I going to watch this movie again as soon as this post publishes?  You bet I am.

The thing is, I love you.

This time of year, when the leaves start to change, I need to grab a jacket before I leave my apartment, and I feel the pressure to make epic New Year's Eve Plans . . . I also start to watch When Harry Met Sally. I love this movie SO MUCH. While I often make categories of my favorite movies- favorites musicals, favorite tearjerkers, favorite teen comedies- this movie just might be my favorite movie. Ever. Of all time.

When I tell people this, they'll say "oh yeah I've seen that movie" And what they mean is they've seen some clips on tv and they're familiar with Meg Ryan's "I'll have what she's having" scene. This is not acceptable! Rent this movie tonight and watch it all the way through! You'll love it for these reasons:

1) Meg Ryan as Sally Albright. Okay, well she's adorable. She has cute curly blond hair! She invented the term "high maintenance." She values honesty and she's a wonderful friend. She's annoyingly optimistic and realistically vulnerable. Everyone remembers her faking it in Katz's Deli, but I love this scene the most.

I mean, haven't we all felt this way? We've all had a night where all of a sudden, our life is not what we thought it would be. And we're I'm going to be 40! In 8 13 years!

2. Scenes of New York. This movie makes me want to go to New York even more than watching Carrie and company strut down 5th avenue. I once watched an interview with the director and he said they wanted some gorgeous back drops so it would be obvious that Harry and Sally were falling in love . . . even if they didn't know it yet.

New York in the fall!
At Christmas!
I'm already in love! When I went to NYC last year I knew I needed to see Washington Square Park where Sally says goodbye to Harry for the first time.

"That's too bad, you were the only person I knew in New York."

3. The Dialogue. Omg, this script is perfection. It also happens to be hilarious! I feel like so many movies now rely on shock value to make you laugh. You laugh because you're thinking "wait WHAT just happened!?" When Harry Met Sally has so many scenes that just seem like regular conversations between friends. But only if the conversations you had with your friends were 100% hilarious. Here are two of my favorites. Also, I posted about another one here.

4. Billy Crystal as Harry Burns. He's cynical. He's pessimistic. He has strong opinions and he's ridiculously stubborn. But he makes you laugh. And he says exactly what you want to hear from someone who's always been in love with you and just now realized it.

5. This movie completely changed my life a few years ago. But that's a story for another day. . .

Sorry for the interuption folks . . .

but i always dance the last dance of the season.

And last night, on what felt like one of the lasts nights of summer, I watched Dirty Dancing. Again. This is a movie I could watch every day and never tire of it. I know every line, and a few key dance moves. Dirty Dancing isn't just one of the greatest chick flicks of all time, its one of my all time favorite movies. And here's why:

1. The suprisingly progressive story line. Baby is "going to Mount Holyoke in the fall," at a time where its perfectly acceptable for her older sister Lisa to "decorate." She wants to join the peace corps after that. She cares about starving children in east Asia and monks burning themselves in protest. Baby wants to save the world and that's exactly why Johnny falls in love with her. Now we won't even get into the whole "Penny's in trouble" plot, but let's just give the movie overall props for a pro-female story that still allows the heroine to fall in love.

2. The clothes, of course! Baby's outfits are somehow a perfect combination of 60s and 80s trends and no one will ever look as cute in white keds as she did sneaking off to dance practice. Also, her sweet natural curls . . . I've tried to cut my hair like this many a times . . . no one has ever pulled me out of a corner.

every girl wants a dress that twirls

maxi skirt and tied up shirt? totally in right now!

adorable!

3. Johnny Castle. I mean, what else is there to say?

He's a bad boy with a good heart and he genuinely loves Baby for who she is, watermelon carrying and goofy dance moves. His dance moves are divine and if you get to the end of the movie without developing a crush . . . well just wait for this part.

When Johnny lifts up Baby... er, Francis? and then sings "I owe it all to you"- I melt, everytime.

4. Dirty Dancing is the perfect summer fling movie. We don't know what happens to Johnny and Baby after their Kellerman's reunion. But lets face it. Baby goes to college, joins the peace corps, meets a Harvard grad and former Freedom Rider and they eventually settle down and raise their daughters to be confident and optimistic and brave. Johnny opens a dance studio in the city with Penny and never feels ashamed about who he is and where he came from. What? You've never thought of that? The point is, we don't need to know. We know they had the time of their life!

5. The "Cry to Me" scene. ( Sorry I couldnt embed. But you should click and watch it. Now.)

This scene goes down in history for me as the greatest movie love scene of all time. If you're ever in a cabin in the Catskills, wearing white jeans and a peasant top and pouring your heart out to a guy and a Solomon Burke song comes on . . Just ask him to dance. You'll thank me later.

"Join hands and hearts and voices, voices, hearts and hands,

At Kellerman's the friendships last long as the mountains stand."

Thanks for the good times Kellerman's- see ya next summer!

What's your favorite summer movie?