The Ugly Truth (2009)
Directed by Robert Luketic
Written by Nicole Eastman, Kristen McCullah Lutz, Kristen Smith
Starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Eric Winter, John Michael Higgins
Release Date July 24th, 2009
Published July 25th, 2009
I am a big fan of Katherine Heigl. She was pitch perfect as the hot girl romancing regular guy Seth Rogan in Knocked Up. And in last January's 27 Dresses Heigl brought energy, warmth and life to stale romantic comedy conventions. I'm sure she had similar intent when she decided to make The Ugly Truth.
Sadly, we all know about the path of good intentions. Katherine Heigl and co-star Gerard Bulter and director Robert Luketic certainly didn't set out to make a movie as blazingly awful as The Ugly Truth but at some point their good intentions were no match for dimwitted plotting and bizarrely misogynistic B.S that passes for character development.
In The Ugly Truth Katherine Heigl is a control freak Morning TV Producer whose show is in the tank. It is, for no good reason at all, hosted by a married couple (the wasted comic talents John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines) who bicker on an off the air, on the air somewhat more pleasantly.
The show is on the verge of being cancelled for Jerry Springer reruns when the station boss hires the boorish host of a misogynist cable access show. He is Gerard Butler and while he burps and cusses and calls women names we know he's a good guy deep down because he loves his conveniently placed, toe-headed nephew.
You don't need a map or even a pair of glasses to see where this plot is headed. She needs a good roll in the hay to get loosened up and he needs a good woman to reform his bad boy tendencies. Knowing this, the movie needs to invent believable and funny reasons to keep them apart. Unfortunately, believable and funny are both well out of this dimwitted movie's grasp.
The creaky, leaky plot of The Ugly Truth has Butler's bad boy playing Cyrano for Heigl's clutzy control freak so that she can land the man of her dreams, the supremely bland soap star Eric Winters. His method for getting the guy is advising Heigl to laugh at all of her man's jokes, wear tighter fitting clothes and fellate a hot dog.
Basically, she should indulge the ugly tendencies that all men have toward women but most try to hide behind manners and civility, two more qualities this movie could have used along side being funny and believable. Oh, that bit with the hot dog? That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the low humor and generally foul behavior that passes for humor in The Ugly Truth.
Struggling through the morass of romantic comedy cliche and ugly low brow humor, The Ugly Truth lives up to half of its title, this is one ugly movie. The truth is that Katherine Heigl is far too talented to waste her time with this kind of trash. Kath? Fire your agent, or whoever advised you to even listen to The Ugly Truth.
