REELGUY'S DVD REVIEW:
"The Ugly Truth" emphasizes rude humor over heart
Maine Connection: Lead actress Katherine Heigl's breakout role was on TV's "Grey's Anatomy" with born and bred Mainer, Patrick Dempsey aka McDreamy.
"The Ugly Truth" is at its core a movie about the different sexes' perspectives on relationships. The sides are exaggerated to an unrealistic level for entertainment purposes. Men are generally not as insensitive and sexist as the shock jock Gerard Butler plays in the film and career women are not as uptight and uncompromising as the TV producer Katherine Heigl plays. Watching these two main characters for the first half hour of the film gives the viewer no one to root for. Films that are primarily romances should have either a main character the viewer feels similar to or wants to be, or someone the viewer might want to be with. With two character extremes at the center of the story, the viewer will be without a sympathetic protagonist. It is one thing to have one unlikeable character who changes his/her ways but two is one too many. The main characters do make changes in the course of the story but an initial bad first impression taints the rest of this film.
Heigl (27 Dresses) is Abby Richter, a professional woman who is the producer of a local news show. When ratings suffer, the station manager decides to hire Mike Chadway, a tv personality who talks about relationships from a male point of view. The whole show changes to revolve around Mike and his strong, often rude, opinions. Abby's personal life is even more dire than her professional. Her idea of a "perfect" man never lives up to the men she meets on dates. Are her expectations too high? Is she doing something wrong? According to Mike, Abby is doing everything wrong trying to attract a man. Mike is so confident in his advice that he and Abby make a bet. If Abby follows Mike's advice to woo her next-door neighbor and is successful, she must work with him to make a better show. If his advice doesn't work, he will quit.
The movie's premise isn't particularly groundbreaking but with proper execution it could have been entertaining to watch. The most surprising aspect of this romantic comedy is the frequent use of rude and sexually-laced language. Judd Apatow's relationship comedies like "Knocked Up" re-introduced these films into the mainstream but "The Ugly Truth" can't strike the right balance between humor and heart. While the humor can be amusing at times, it feels shocking within the confines of this otherwise traditional rom-com. When the characters work together to help Abby in her dating life the movie becomes more fun to watch. This entertaining portion of the film takes much too long to arrive.
Heigl and Butler are good actors but were cast in hard-to-like roles. When their characters are shown to have greater depth, the movie becomes more complete. The picture as a whole cannot maintain this same level of consist quality throughout. "The Ugly Truth" is a haphazardly executed romantic comedy that emphasizes the "blue" humor over the romance, to the story's ultimate detriment.
Rated R for sexual content and language.
