‘Persuasion’ Star Dakota Johnson Revealed Her ‘Guilty Pleasure’ Movie
With two romantic comedies currently streaming and a cover spread for Vogue’s August issue, actor Dakota Johnson seems to be everywhere right now. Talking about everything from her work in the 50 Shades franchise to her new tattoo, Johnson is speaking her mind.
Now, in a “Burning Questions” interview with IMDb, the star also talks about her favorite “guilty pleasure” movie.
Dakota Johnson loves this early 2000s rom-com
When asked what movie Johnson considers her “guilty pleasure,” the actor told IMDb that she considers How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days a “masterpiece” and says she “know[s] literally every single line of that movie.”
In defense of her choice, Johnson continues, “I also heard that Paul Thomas Anderson also thinks it’s an incredible film, so that makes me feel less guilty about it.”
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was released in 2003 and stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. The film was based on a 1998 book of the same name that chronicled the dating mishaps of authors Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long.
Along with the film’s 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days has also been rated as one of the best rom-coms of the early 2000s by Katiecouric.com, Collider, and many others, so Johnson is certainly not alone in her passion for the film.
Netflix’s rom-com adaptation of Persuasion
Johnson’s most recent release, Netflix’s Persuasion, sees the actor in a romantic comedy of her own. The film is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel and though Austen’s original work is not traditionally classified as a romantic comedy, Netflix’s new iteration takes the material in a new direction.
Johnson plays the lead role of Anne Elliot, a young woman who falls in love with Frederick Wentworth (played by Cosmo Jarvis) but is persuaded not to marry him due to his insufficient social station. When the pair meet again many years later, their relationship suffers peaks and pitfalls ripe for Netflix’s comedic interpretation. However, the film has not been well received, with Vox (among others) calling the adaptation “an absolute disaster.”
Dakota Johnson in Cha Cha Real Smooth
Johnson’s other recent romantic comedy, Cha Cha Real Smooth, has been far better received. Currently streaming on Apple TV+, Cha Cha Real Smooth sees Johnson as Domino, a single mother of an autistic daughter, Lola (played by Vanessa Burghardt). Starring as Johnson’s love interest, Andrew, is Cooper Raiff, who also wrote and directed the film.
The film’s humor is a little off-beat and void of the zingy one-liners of Johnson’s adored How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days but has an irresistible charm to it. A favorite at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Cha Cha Real Smooth has quickly gained fans since its release on June 17th, with The Guardian calling it “funny, honest, and shamelessly manipulative.”
On Johnson’s performance of the enigmatic Domino, Slashfilm says, “Johnson is terrific… [and] imbues [Domino] with self-awareness and an underlying sense of maturity, even as Domino does immature things.”
Johnson is leaving her rom-com days behind for now, however, while she works on her Spider-verse debut in Madame Web, due out next summer.
