Review: The Ugly Truth
Posted July 24, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Katherine Heigl wasn’t wrong when she called Knocked Up sexist.
She was merely a hypocrite.
Since that movie made her a star, Heigl has chosen to appear in a series of smart, progressive, films that allow her to – oh wait.
Since that movie made her a star, Heigl has continued to appear in a string of “gosh will this unlikely couple make it work?” films, the latest of which is The Ugly Truth.
It’s billed as a romantic comedy but it fits neither description.
She’s Abby, an uptight producer of a morning television program that’s tanking in the ratings. He’s Mike (Gerard Butler), a boorish relationship expert brought on by her bottom-line focused boss.
The pair flirt and bicker as part of their inevitable romantic pairing (sorry, did I spoil that for you?), but the movie fails at eliciting even the cheapest of laughs.
Initially, their dialogue sounds a desperate attempt to cash in on the (well-deserved) success of Borat: it’s all [kitten] this and [rooster] that, with plenty of references as to how to properly eat a hot dog.
(Slowly, in case you were wondering.)
Later, Mike’s advice got only groans and dropped jaws from the audience.
“Listen up ladies. You want a relationship, here’s how you get one. It’s called a StairMaster; get on it! No one falls in love with your personality at first sight.”
The clichés don’t stop there: one scene actually involves Mike wrestling two bikini-clad women in a pool of Jell-o, and another sees Abby having an accidental orgasm in the middle of a business dinner.
Watching this movie felt like Cosmopolitan magazine came to life and then slapped me in the face.
It’s not funny, it’s incredibly predictable, and it’s riddled with the kind of conflicting, terrible advice found between the pages of the glossy.
In defense of both Heigl (who served as a co-producer) and the film, the following three points:
- Her performance was good.
- It’s not like smart, progressive roles for women actually exist.
- The low est-selling issue of Cosmopolitan last year still moved 1.5 million copies, which is perhaps the biggest slap in the face.
Email me: erin.criger@citynews.ca
Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler arrive at the premiere on July 16, 2009 in Hollywood, California. Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.
