We can't wrap-up a deep-dive into How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days without talking about the most memorable part of the movie – the yellow dress Kate Hudson wears in the climax of the film. And while we're at it, it's worth obsessing over all the costumes in this film because this is a movie steeped in fashion. To help us unpack the craft of costume design, we're welcoming Colin Wilkes on the show.

Colin Wilkes is a costume designer who has designed theater, opera, puppetry, TV and film in many genres. She has her BFA in Costume Design from CalArts and her design work on rom-coms includes the 2020 Hulu movie Palm Springs and the 2022 Netflix movie Look Both Ways. She’s currently the designer for the Apple+ show Big Door Prize.

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The music of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days runs the gamut from country-pop songs to whimsical orchestrations. To the modern ear, it all sounds very specific to an early 2000s rom-com moment. This week, to help us understand that moment and the history of movie music more broadly, we have Julie Hubbert on the show.

Julie Hubbert is the LaDare Robinson Memorial Professor of Music at the University of South Carolina. She's the writer of Technology, Listening, and Labor: Music in New Hollywood Film (1967-1980) and Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History among other works.

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis inspired by this episode.

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When watching at rom-com, have you ever noticed that the stars just kind of glow? That their skin looks silky smooth and their apartments are always sun-drenched? Lighting design and camera movement play a huge role in giving rom-coms their particular aesthetic, and those things (we're pretty sure) are part of the art of cinematography. This week, to help us understand the history of cinematography and the particular look of How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, we have Chris Cagle on the show.

Chris Cagle is an associate professor of film history and theory in the Film and Media Arts department at Temple University. His book, Sociology on Film: Postwar Hollywood's Prestige Commodity, examines the 1940s social problem film as both a form of popular sociology and a strain of middlebrow "prestige" cinema. Additionally, he has published essays in Cinema Journal, Screen, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video, and in a number of edited volumes, including most recently Cinematography and Middlebrow Cinema. 

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Chris.

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The success of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is built around the chemistry and star-power of its two leading actors: Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. To truly understand this film, we have to understand the way movie stars operate in Hollywood, what casting these two actors meant in 2003, and what it means today.

Helping us in that task is Russell Meeuf, a professor in the school of Journalism and Mass Media at the University of Idaho. His work focuses on celebrity culture, popular cinema, masculinity studies and disability studies. He is the author of several books on media culture, including White Terror: The Horror Film from Obama to Trump, Rebellious Bodies: Stardom Citizenship, and the New Body Politics as well as John Wayne's World: Transnational Masculinity in the Fifties.

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Russ.

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After talking about setting last episode, we wanted to dig even deeper into the physical space inhabited by Ben and Andie. How does the design of their workplaces, apartments, and date-nights affect how we perceive each of their characters?

To help us tackle this topic, we're joined by Production Designer Stuart Blatt. Stuart walks us through the role of Production Designer, how he works with other crew members, and what he noticed specifically when watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Eric.

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How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, like many Rom-Coms, is set in New York City. It’s got fire escapes, taxi cabs, and a dramatic Manhattan Bridge scene. 

In order to understand this film, we have to understand: What is it about New York that is so ripe for romance? And what parts of the city are highlighted in this movie and why?

To help us answer those questions, we’re joined by Eric Hynes, the Curator of Film at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. 

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Eric.

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For our annual fundraiser at Not Sorry, we are again supporting the wonderful organization On The Rise.

On The Rise’s work begins with individuals experiencing homelessness in Cambridge, Massachusetts and continues if and when they secure housing. From their origin as a women’s organization, their programs have evolved toward inclusion of those historically and structurally oppressed on the basis of gender.

In today's episode, Vanessa sits down with On The Rise’s Director of Clinical Services, Charyti Reiter to talk about misconceptions around homeless. We hear also from one of On The Rise's participants, JS. 

You can help us reach our goal of $10k by donating here. 

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For our next deep-dive into How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, we wanted to better understand the story structure of a Rom-Com. We called up the delightful Hannah Giorgis, a film critic for The Atlantic, to help us break down the three-act structure and how it operates in this film.

Hannah brought some great citations and resources to the show:

• “You’re So Vain”: An Oral History of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• The Big Sleepover:The fatal flaw of How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• This tweet about romcom women being as annoying as possible

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Hannah.

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For our first deep-dive into How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, we wanted to look at the history of the rom-com genre. To help us dig into it, we called up the incredible Kathleen Karlyn, the founding director of the Cinema Studies program at University of Oregon and author of The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter.

We wanted to know: Where does the history of the rom-com start? What do people mean when they say something is a ‘battle of the sexes’ movie? and how do gender norms and ideals inform this particular movie? 

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Kathleen.

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We make Hot & Bothered because we are interested in the way that love stories have impacted our lives and culture. For our fifth season of the show, we’re turning our attention to romantic films.

We're starting this season with 10 episodes on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, an iconic film of the early 2000s rom-com oeuvre. It has a perfect yellow dress. It has a karaoke battle. It has Matthew McConaughey on a motorcycle. It’s basically the epitome of everything people consider ‘silly’ about the genre. In the next ten episodes, Vanessa Zoltan will revisit How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in conversation with media experts and scholars to better understand the language of romance on film.

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If we give you butterflies, consider supporting us on Patreon! On Patreon have more great romance content including a close scene analysis with Hannah McGregor.

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