Dawn Koh
The ugly truth about The Ugly Truth is that this chick flick is, like most romantic comedies, predictable and pathetic, and as forgettable as the slew of rom-coms this season, from The Proposal, to I Love You, Beth Cooper.
Meet Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl), a morning news show producer in Sacramento. She gets PIs to check up potential dates, ticking them off a mental checklist of what constitutes her dream date. Being the total control freak and perfectionist that she is, Abby’s search for her prince charming has been nothing but fruitless.
That is, until the arrival of cable TV show host Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler). In his love advice show, The Ugly Truth, Mike advises young women to flaunt their physical assets to keep their man. Chauvinist and misogynist are apt labels for Mr Chadway.
The pair inhabit such different universes, they’d never meet in reality. However, to save the plummeting ratings of Abby’s news show, her boss decides to bring in Mike for some colour. Mike continuously makes fun of Abby’s imagination of a perfect guy, but helps her in her love life, nonetheless. Abby believes that her neighbour, Colin (Eric Winter), has the qualities of Mr Wonderful. However, afraid that her controlling nature will send the good doctor running for the hills, she goes to Mike for help.
And as expected, these 2 natural enemies eventually become good friends, and fall in love.
As much as The Ugly Truth was cliche, there were a few enjoyable comedic elements in it, although the prudish may want to skip this altogether for its overt sexual references and gutter language. For example, Mike gives Abby vibrating underwear to spice up her sex life, saying, “It’s not for you. It’s for your bean.” This gesture leads inevitably to a hilarious scene, when her remote control for the underwear goes missing, and lands in the hands of a young boy. Being a curious child, he switches the remote on. And before you know it, Abby was wriggling in her seat as she was giving her speech in front of her boss, Mike, Colin et al.
Grey’s Anatomy actress Katherine Heigl was mediocre in this film, the same which could be said for her role in 27 Dresses where she held a more interesting job as a perpetual bridesmaid. Both characters were perfectionists. However, her chemistry with co-star, Gerard Butler, was sufficient to keep you entertained. Besides, it’s a nice change to see him in a total complete role, a male chauvinistic pig, from his sensitive, ultra considerate turn as a dead husband in P.S. I Love You (2007). But that doesn’t matter, cos’ you can never resist Butler’s killer looks and charming Scottish accent.
That aside, the plot of the show is pathetic and depressing. It’s upsetting to see the ugliness in both men and women up close. With men, it’s that they’re superficial enough to want to date only ladies with beautiful long hair, dressed in fitting dresses that flaunt their assets, and who are easy. With women, on the other hand, the ugly truth is that they’ll do anything to snag their perfect guy, including being as despicable as the men and putting their values and principles aside.
Taken seriously, The Ugly Truth and its stereotypes will leave you and your date in a battle of the sexes. And that’s probably neither the point nor the desired effect of watching any romcom.
Watch the official trailer.
Release Details:
Opens: Sep 17
Duration: 96 min
Language: English
Rating: NC-16
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Director: Robert Luketic
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Eric Winter