About the only thing harder to fake than chemistry in a romantic comedy is genuine, honest-to-goodness humor.

Unfortunately, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" has really put itself behind the eight ball by trying to fake both. The combination of the film's leads — Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, both of whom have considerable charm and charisma — sets off no real sparks, and there's nothing here to convince the audience that their characters should wind up together.

This rather lazy, by-the-numbers film also thinks it can get away with simply creating wacky situations — as if that's all it takes to make a movie comedy. The results seem more like a series of setups than a coherent, cohesive story.

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is not unpleasant. It's just dull. And at nearly two hours, it almost feels as long as the full 10-day span of the title.

Hudson stars as Andie Anderson, the "How-to" columnist for an increasingly popular women's magazine. She longs to sink her teeth into something more substantive, but her boss (Bebe Neuwirth) won't let her.

So, inspired by the relationship foibles of her best friend (Kathryn Hahn), Andie decides to write a column on dating don'ts. She'll find a guy, land him and then lose him by doing everything a woman shouldn't in a relationship.

At the same time, happily single advertising guru Benjamin Barry (McConaughey) has been challenged by his boss (Robert Klein), who wants him to become more "sensitive" and "responsive" to women. So Barry promises his boss he'll find a woman and make her fall in love with him within 10 days. Guess which woman he picks?

Romantic comedies are, by nature, predictable. But this one's undercut even more by Donald Petrie's workmanlike direction.

To their credit, the supporting-cast members really try to make this mess better, especially Hahn and Adam Goldberg (as the respective best friends) and Neuwirth and Klein. But neither Hudson nor McConaughey are on their game — not that they could have saved it if they were.

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is rated PG-13 for occasional use of strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word) and some sexual talk, crude humor relating to sexual and other bodily functions, a brief sex scene and a brief scene of violence (fisticuffs, done for laughs). Running time: 116 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com