How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is a mildly funny, romantic time-waster, benefiting primarily from its central duo and its (very, very vague) societal and entertainment-industry pushes. Who knew seeing advertising executive Benjamin “Ben” Barry (Matthew McConaughey) and gossip magazine columnist Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson)—each bearing similar self-industry-boosting motives—could be so fun? Despite its predictable plot, an often even duller script, and an unprovocative glance at the heteronormative, plastically superficial, and twisted values/norms that come with the marketing business and straight dating, a light-hearted tone matched and mucked around in by Hudson and McConaughey’s shared self-deprecation make How to Lose a Guy classic early 2000s romantic comedy worth remembering for more than 10 Days.

Andie Anderson is a columnist for the women’s magazine Composure, which focuses primarily on fashion, wellness, health, and other topics related to women that aren’t serious news. Frustrated by her constraints in the “How to” section, Andie desires to eventually use Composure to discuss legitimate issues such as poverty, climate change, and discrimination. Inspired by her friend Michelle Rubin’s (Kathryn Hahn) recent breakup, she requests to make an article titled “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” based on a real experiment where she faux-dates a man to drive him away. Detailing her plans to her boss, Lana Jong (Bebe Neuwirth), and advertising executives Judy Spears (Michael Michele) and Judy Green (Shalom Harlow), Andie gets approval and ventures for an unfortunate victim. Meanwhile, Ben, a fellow advertising executive who works with the Judys, competes with them for approval from their boss, Phillip Warren (Robert Klein), to lead a diamond company’s ad campaign. He bets that, in proving he’s capable of marketing to women and of running the diamond ad campaign, he can get any woman to fall in love with him—a bet the Judys and their boss take up, saying he has to appear with a head-over-heels woman at the company ball in 10 days. Knowing Andie’s article needs a man to steer off in the same timeframe, the Judys point Ben in Andie’s direction as the supposed perfect candidate to swoon. What follows is a week and a half of off-the-wall camaraderie, humiliation rituals, and sheer dedication of two industry professionals who want to better themselves. As the fake romancers develop real attraction, their priorities blur, and the end goal becomes more complicated—if only feelings could be so cut and dry.

Hudson and McConaughey deserved awards for their ability to make fun out of stinky scripts. Just about everything interesting in this 10 Day love-me-love-me-not fiasco that could compel gets swept under the rug. Hints of the entertainment industry’s deep-rooted flaws and harmful demands dot Andie’s experience—”And Andie, tonight take smaller bites,” Andie’s boss reminds her before she takes a rebelliously large bite out of Lana’s sight—but remain peckish one-liners. Beyond love and their jobs, the same goes for the characters; Andie at one point gets closest to feeling authentic as she confesses to Ben at his family’s home, “When your mom hugged me…. She really hugged me,” only for the significance of her seemingly first experience with real affection to get tossed aside for Ben and Andie’s first sexual encounter. But throughout, McConaughey remains flamboyant, and Hudson is scene-stealing in her quick-witted demeanor. McConaughey carries himself with a goofiness reminiscent of the more drugged-up characters he’s played (The Beach Bum, anyone?). He walks and talks with a laid-back stance, but with just enough integrity to understand his sly talent in advertising. In other words, he’s a once-hippy now in a suit. Hudson, meanwhile, is a self-assured, grounded, and lighthearted journalist with ambitions Composure could never match. Hudson ensures she’s consistently funny and unpredictable, making Andie an irresistible central character as she fights for herself and her friends’ sanity. It’s no wonder Lana’s arrogance gets met with disgust and hidden resistance from Andie; Composure offers little to someone as decent and sharp as our blonde stereotype subverting star.

Seeing the pair lock onto each other, unknowingly sharing basically the same motivations, makes for fairly amusing times. At every turn where Ben treats Andie with grace and kindness—”it’s about long-term commitment!” he says both to himself and his friends repeatedly—Andie goes out of her way to ruin it. Hysterics, untimely requests, and night-ruining disruptions are merely some of Andie’s tricks, and seeing Ben match her dedication with equally faked forgiveness is hilarious. As their bond over sports and professional similarities grows truly tender, McConaughey sweetens, and Hudson’s personal fallout gives the romantic comedy real heart. If there’s anything How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days proves, it’s that actors can significantly uplift a dud from being nightmarishly dull and hollow to a film of small potential and large, memorable personalities. For Hudson and McConaughey fans and rom-com bingers, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days may be a feel-good time-waster, so long as the premise’s silliness and equally weak script are overlooked.

Screens Tuesday, 2/24, 7:00 p.m. @ Landmark’s Kendall Square Cinema