Kate Hudson Explained What She Thinks Is Wrong With Today’s Rom-Coms

If romantic comedies had a 101 course, Kate Hudson could school the best of us. “That’s the class I’m going to be [teaching] at NYU film school when I’m 75. I’ll be the professor of rom-coms,” the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery actor joked while sampling spicy wings during a recent Hot Ones appearance. So it comes as little surprise that the star of such classics as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Something Borrowed might already have a de facto lecture prepared on the state of modern rom-coms — including a dissertation on the problems plaguing the genre today.

“I think sometimes people think rom-coms are all about the meet-cute,” Hudson told host Sean Evans, explaining that “an actually good story” is an ideal starting point in making a feel-good film stand out. “A great rom-com is about meeting love, discovering love, falling in love, love falling apart, and then how you come back together. That’s a very traditional rom-com structure.”

The “most classic” rom-coms feature “two movie stars in a love story,” she continued. “They’re shiny and they’re bright and it’s like wish fulfillment,” Hudson added. “It’s supposed to make you feel fuzzy, and then they stay with you forever.”

That sentiment provided Hudson a natural jumping off point for a little film criticism, as she explained that “just because they’re supposed to feel bright doesn’t mean they need to look so bright,” too. “A lot of times ... I think the genre gets kind of dumbed down because they think they know,” she said before moving on to the importance of casting, citing her “chemistry” with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool’s Gold co-star Matthew McConaughey. “I’m grateful that it was me and Matthew because he’s a blast,” she gushed.

Professor Hudson would also likely cite 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as a seminal example of a rom-com with staying power. After all, the Oscar-nominated actor herself has continued to revisit her classic rom-com role as Andie Anderson, even nearly two decades later. In July 2020, for example, both she and McConaughey, who played ad exec Benjamin Barry, revisited their “love fern” storyline, in honor of “Take Your Houseplant for a Walk Day.” After Hudson jokingly referred to the plant on Instagram as one of her “favorite co-stars,” McConaughey chimed in, writing, “Hate to see you leave, but love to watch you go. #ThatDamnFern,” in the comments section.

The following month, Hudson also theorized what Andie and Ben might have been up to in 2020 — revealing she might even be on board for a potential sequel. “I’ve always thought about what Matthew and I’s characters would be now, if we were still together,” she shared in an interview with Elle at the time, joking that the couple was “probably miserable” while quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s actually probably a good amount of time [that has passed] to make a movie about it.”