The Good: Movie is not entirely devoid of smiles, Gerard Butler's performance
The Bad: Message and execution of same, Long stretches without humor, Entirely predictable
The Basics: The Ugly Truth is not only just as bad as the trailers might make it seem, but worse with a lack of humor, a terribly predictable plot, and horribly underlying messages.
For those who might take instant offense to my review based upon the title, it was intended originally as a note to myself, based upon my surprise at discovering at the end of the closing credits that The Ugly Truth was rated "R," not PG-13. This surprised me because of the phrase "fucking" in place of actually using the f-word two of the three times it would have been used. Knowing that a PG-13 film can use it only once, I thought that the judicious use of the actual f-word had to do with trying to keep the movie in PG-13 range. So, when it turned out that the movie was "R," I found myself wondering why there had been so many safe shots by director Robert Luketic looking down Katherine Heigl's dress instead of just having her show her breasts outright. My alternate title was "Women Are Idiots And Men Are Dogs (Yet Again) In The Ugly Truth" (which could have just as easily been my title for Confessions Of A Shopaholic, reviewed here!). My point in opening the review this way is to say that there is little that is truly offensive or shocking or even funny in The Ugly Truth.
Have you ever seen a movie's trailer and thought, "I bet I could write a review of that without actually seeing the movie?" I'm wishing I didn't have scruples tonight, following a preview screening of The Ugly Truth which was so predictable I actually felt insulted and ashamed of some of the people watching the movie around me. As Katherine Heigl continues her terrible trend into romantic comedies that began with the abysmal 27 Dresses, she fails to improve or pick a better project and The Ugly Truth will no doubt be on many reviewers Worst Of 2009 lists.
Abby is the producer of the morning news program on channel 2 KSXP in Sacramento where she takes her job very seriously and has little time for a social life as a result. As her show's ratings decline, due in part to her married anchorman and anchorwoman losing their spark and sexual attraction, Abby finds herself increasingly frustrated. After a terrible date with a man who still meets many of her criteria for a man, Abby calls in to the misogynistic cable access show The Ugly Truth where the host, Mike Chadway, berates her and others for believing in a romantic ideal only. Abby is mortified the next morning to discover that the station manager has hired Mike to add his segment to the morning news.
Almost immediately, Abby's world is turned around as Mike's ridiculous, but accurate, rants lead to an on-air reconciliation between her anchors, Georgia and Larry. And after getting caught peeking in on her new neighbor, Colin, she finds herself smitten. When her first attempts to begin a relationship with Colin flop, Mike makes a bet with her; he will help her win Colin if she will lay off him and his program and if he can't, he'll quit. Abby then allows Mike to make her over and in the process, she discovers Mike is not the worthless cretin he appears initially to be.
The Ugly Truth is insulting to women everywhere and the joke of it all is that most of them are the target audience and do not seem to realize they are being insulted. At the screening I attended, I cringed when women nearby me actually let out gasps of surprise at a plot-obvious moment wherein Mike leaves Abby and she opens her door to discover Colin, not Mike, waiting for her. At the moment it happens, anyone who has seen a romantic comedy will see it coming a mile away. But the truly insulting aspect comes from how Mike gets away with his inflammatory messages. He insults the stereotypical feminine perception with obscenity, including Abby's worldview, and almost immediately we're told that the ratings have skyrocketed, based mostly on the power of women and that 93% of women watching love Mike. In other words, it doesn't matter what Mike says or how abrasively he says it, women like him! Yes, this only perpetrates the mythos that women like men who will treat them poorly, as opposed to nice guys.
Beyond that, the film is offensive for its obviousness and the continuation of the idea that men know best. Abby is immediately characterized as an incredibly intelligent, but socially inept character and frankly, I'm sick of the type. Intelligent people are often characterized as miserable or unable to socialize and that stereotype is almost as offensive as the idea that Abby can be an articulate woman, but she will still be wrong and need Mike to teach her how things really are. This movie insults the intelligence of women everywhere, but figures they can get away with it because the movie was co-written by three women. I don't care how many women wrote the script, it's still insulting to women and movie lovers.
The Ugly Truth suffers from severe lacks of originality as well. The plot is so canned and predictable that watching the trailer alone will adequately spoil the movie. The reversals are entirely cliche and the average viewer will know from the outset that no matter how close Abby and Colin get, Colin's days are numbered. In The Ugly Truth, this is made even more painfully obvious by the fact that Mike has an attachment to his nephew, which becomes exactly the schmaltzy tool one would expect to help open Abby's eyes up to seeing him differently. And, I'm not saying that When Harry Met Sally has a monopoly on orgasm scenes, but if you're going to have a woman having an awkward orgasm on her own, do you honestly have to set it in a restaurant?! The Ugly Truth makes obvious nods or steals from other, better, romantic comedies.
And the characters are utterly uninteresting. They are types. Abby is the smart dumbwoman who needs a man to tell her how wrong she is, Mike is the misogynist with the heart of gold, Joy is the lackluster sidekick and Colin is one of the most generic male love interests to grace the screen in a long time. Georgia and Larry are the stereotypical married couple who have lost the spark and Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins, who portray them, are more the result of good casting than anything remotely resembling good acting.
As for the acting, Gerard Butler earns his paycheck as Mike. Butler is smarmy and annoying, often painful to watch. He plays the role of Mike in a completely different way than he played his role in 300 (reviewed here!). He is sarcastic and when he often mumbles his lines, making him seem more guarded than anything else. That works well to create a very different and vivid character.
By contrast, Katherine Heigl is just terrible. She has no sense of comic timing exhibited in this role and her on-screen chemistry with Eric Winter (Colin) is less than zero, never convincing the audience that her character has any chance with him. She is able to get her articulate her more fast-paced and complicated lines, but this is easily within her range. She gives us nothing new and if the movie had anything resembling dramatic moments, she does not carry them any better than she carries the few comic moments she is expected to deliver laughs. In fact, from the moment director Robert Luketic has her made over to appear like Britney Spears, she delivers nothing noteworthy in her performance.
In all, The Ugly Truth is an ugly joke on the audience and women in general. Only the fact that I did find a few moments amusing and the performance by Gerard Butler saves this from being considered an absolute turkey.
For other works with Bonnie Somerville, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Without A Paddle
Spider-Man 2
Bedazzled
3/10
For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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