The Ugly Truth (Sony Pictures)
Another Look at the Battle of the Sexes
For years Hollywood has focused on the battle of the sexes. Tracy and Hepburn made it into an art form and then Rock Hudson and Doris Day revived it for a new generation, and on and on it went. Now we get Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler putting their spin on it and it is not a pretty sight. Their vehicle is titled The Ugly Truth and it modernizes the whole battle with a multitude of four letter words and sexual euphemisms. This is done to obviously show how modern we are.
In the film Abby (Heigl) is the producer of a morning television show starring Larry and Georgia (John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines), a married couple who co-host the show. To spice things up Abbys boss hires a guy named Mike (Butler) to come in and do a segment about the real relationships between men and women.
Abby dislikes Mike on sight and is determined to get him off her program, but the ratings argue she should keep him on. Eventually they make a truce of sorts and Mike even starts coaching her on how to attract her neighbor Colin (Eric Winter). Abby goes along with Mike and invents personality traits that do seem to attract Colin.
Of course behind it all Mike is growing to like Abby. He cant tell her this because he doesnt want to appear weak or whatever. Will he show his true feelings Will Abby reciprocate Who knows, and better yet, who cares
Heigl is a very pretty woman but in this film her character comes off more annoying than appealing. Abby seems to alternate between teen age and middle age. One minute she is doing some kind of crazy dance of excitement and the next she is uptight and grouchy.
Then there is Butler. He made his name and gained his fame with 300 and there is good buzz about his upcoming action movie Gamer. What hes not is an actor who plays comedic roles. It just isnt believable. He appears to be in full James Denton mode, who he sort of resembles, and comes off as bland and boring.
As a couple these two actors have very little charisma together except when they dance in one of the later scenes in the movie. They dont speak a word to each other but the movements of the dance ands their eye contact says it all.
The film is rated R for brief nudity, profanity and sexual content.
Nothing in this movie really works. Heigls beauty only goes so far. Butler is miscast. Higgins and Hines are wasted in their roles. All of the funny scenes were shown in the trailers so there is nothing new to make you chuckle.
The ugly truth is this is basically a fifties comedy about the war between the sexes that is spiced up with raunchy language. Its outdated and overdone.
I scored The Ugly Truth a lying 4 out of 10.
