Everything But Katherine Heigl's Breasts In The Ugly Truth, Another Insulting Romantic Comedy.

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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Oh Where Were You Then, Victor Garber? And How Did Legally Blonde Happen?!

The Good: Moments of humor, Acting
The Bad: Contrived plot, Overbearing soundtrack, Lack of character development, Look, Obviousness, Most humor, Details
The Basics: Mildly entertaining, Legally Blonde is a one-trick pony that gets redundant on reiterating all blondes aren't idiots. Well, duh!


It's hard to expect much of a film like Legally Blonde when one reads the plot summary on the back of the video and the plot seems like such teen fare. In fact, one doesn't get more teen oriented than the Hollywood beautiful young woman going off to prove herself against the odds. So, when I sat down to Legally Blonde I knew I'd have to suspend my disbelief and some of my better judgment if I was to even enjoy the film.

It wasn't enough.

The truth is, it's possible still to put out a film like this that I won't pan. This one, however, did not do it.

Elle Woods is a California socialite who was president of her sorority and is expecting to be proposed to by her boyfriend. By the sheer amount of set-up, we know that her boyfriend, Warner, is going to dump her instead. And he does. He says she's not serious enough. So, Elle ups and gets into Harvard Law School to show him that she is serious. The moment Elle meets the other Hollywood handsome man, Emmett, we know that the story is one of "those" stories. It's one of those stories where Elle will apply herself, work hard, prove herself, and in the process realize that she's too good for Guy A and end up with Guy B.

Surprise, the films like this that I don't pan are the ones that surprise me, that I don't call in the first few moments. This one, well, I was dead on. The factor that felt especially insulting to me was the lack of deviation from that formula. There were no attempts to alter that formula, no surprises. There was no moment that I smiled because something unexpected happened.

That's not to say the film is without humor. It has its moments. They are few and far between. Most of them are obvious gags that the average twelve year old would catch before they appeared. A perfect example of this is when Emmett's new fiance, Vivian, invites Elle to a party when Elle overhears her talking to another person. She tells Elle it's a costume party. Being that Vivian's characterization is vindictive and cruel, we know Elle is going to dress up and be the only one in a costume at the party. Well, that's precisely how it happens.

While the pace of the film is even, the soundtrack is not. Perhaps it is the hallmark of a teen-oriented film; the soundtrack breaks out in the most insipid pop music at various points in the movie. It tends to be more distracting than refreshing. It tends to have the feeling of, "we have some time to kill, let's distract everyone from that fact with some music." And sure enough, the film clocks in at 96 minutes.

The look is completely oriented toward younger people or those who feed into the notion of the Hollywood ideal of beauty. Reese Witherspoon is thin, blonde and while she plays the character well, everyone around her is equally unrealistically beautiful. This is one of those films where I watch and I'm screaming for someone who looks like someone I might see on the street to appear. They don't; this is a beautiful people film.

I will compliment the acting. Reese Witherspoon plays Elle well, Luke Wilson is surprisingly good in the obvious role of Emmett. Supporting players Victor Garber (from television's Alias) and Holland Taylor (The Practice) are wonderful for the roles that are written. Victor plays Callahan and near the end of the film, his character takes a turn for the sleazy that allows Elle to fulfill her character arc and it didn't read right. I saw it coming from the opening of that scene, but it still didn't fit.

The real killer for my suspension of disbelief is in the details. This film is lacking in details. It's a sweeping attempt to say "All blondes aren't dumb!" The thing is, in order to create that, the character needs to support that. Elle has ambition and possibly talent, but for a college student with a 4.0, it's completely unrealistic that she would appear for her first day of class unprepared. I can even suspend my disbelief to allow for Elle sneaking her dog into everywhere she goes, but even that seems pointless; there are several shots throughout the film where the dog is focused on randomly, as if just to say "the dog is also in this scene."

The truth is, I think we, as a society have moved past this. It takes a teen to be caught up in such obvious prejudices as "all blondes are dumb" or such. It is an unnecessary fight and films like Legally Blonde seem all the more pointless for trying to make it into a real issue. The problem with Legally Blonde is while it attempts to dispel one obvious prejudice, it reinforces others. All people who attend Harvard are not rich snobs, all West Coast people don't say "like" every other sentence and not all wealthy people are superficial or sexually predatory.

It's a shame that the acting in this film was so good; while I watched it, I could think of nothing other than how I didn't think anyone ought to endure such an obvious piece. Still, there are worse movies . . .

For other works with Reese Witherspoon, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Four Christmases
Friends - Season 6

3/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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