The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth

"In Sacramento, Abby Richter produces a morning news show that's about to be canceled. To boost ratings, her boss hires Mike Chadway, a local cable call-in host who promotes the ugly truth: sex is the only glue in a relationship, men can't change, and they only respond to women's looks. Mike offends Abby's sensibility: she has a checklist about the perfect man, and she's found him in her new neighbor, Colin, a hunky doctor. Mike offers to help her reel in Colin if she'll work with Mike on the show; she accepts the deal, ratings go up, and, with Mike's help, so does Colin's interest in her. Craig Ferguson, a hot air balloon, and the ugly truth help this take on "Cyrano" play out."

3 Stars

I have to be honest; I really struggled over renting this movie. Not because it is a chick flick, I have not made it any secret that they are one of my guilty pleasures. The reason that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to rent it was because Katherine Heigel was in it. I find her to be one of the most irritating women in the film business today and I really can’t stand her opinions. She gets paid to act and look pretty, and I could really care less about her opinion on politics or moral dilemmas. None the less, she seems more than happy to spout her moronic dribble even when no one is asking her any questions. But, I decided to be fair. Just because I hope she chokes on her own self satisfaction doesn’t mean that I should write her off as an actress. I’m glad I did decide to think about it because I realized I actually enjoy her as an actress.

Granted, I have a very limited exposure to her “body of work”. I think I have only seen about 3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and I really wasn’t paying attention because I was more concerned with getting in the pants of the she-devil who was making me watch the show instead of Sunday Night Football . . . but I digress. I have seen her in The Ringer in which she was pretty good, and Knocked Up in which I thought she was great. I’m sorry but the point in the movie when she is trying to help Seth Rogen’s website by watching pornos made her one of the coolest movie girlfriends ever. I’m serious. Just hearing her yell, “2 minutes in, BOOBS AND BUSH! BOOBS AND BUSH!” almost brought a prideful tear to my eye.

With all of that, I decided to watch The Ugly Truth. The male lead played by Gerard Butler gave me less pause about renting the movie. I don’t care how much this makes me sound like a 13 year old boy, but 300 was one of the most badass movies to come out in my lifetime. King Leonidas can be in damn near any movie and I will be happy to pay my $8.50! Well, except for P.S. I Love you, but that is just because Hillary Swank should never be the lead in a romantic comedy because she looks like a man. So much so that she actually won an academy award for playing one because the role didn’t require that much acting. But again, I am getting off topic.

I wouldn’t put The Ugly Truth up in the realm of Knocked Up or The 40 Year Old Virgin, but it’s pretty damn funny none the less. The film gives a pretty good representation of modern day relationships and the hypocrisies that are associated with them. Heigl even impressed me so much that I would almost compare her slapstick comedic prowess to that of Lucille Ball. In one particular scene she accidently goes to a formal dinner with a pair of remote controlled vibrating panties on. I don’t care how sophisticated you think you are, I challenge anyone to watch that scene and not laugh til you cry. And, as much as I dislike her as a person, she really is good looking. Shockingly enough, it turns out guys are into that kind of thing because we’re shallow and that might be just enough to get us to go see a movie. The end is predictable, but I don’t think anyone who rents this was expecting Citizen Kane. All that matters is that the writing is pretty sharp and the social commentary is relatively fresh. All of that adds up to a movie worth seeing.