Total fun movie, nice DVD "extras", I give it a solid "7".

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2001)

This film "Coyote Ugly" gets it name from the bar where the girls work, apparently a real bar of the same name in NYC, but this film was shot on a set. The lead actress Piper Perabo was chosen from about 4000 girls, and she does a fine job, very believable as "Violet". In fact, her life leading up to this film paralleled the character very closely. She looks a little like both Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker, and delivers her lines much like Parker would have.
Storyline - young Violet, mother dead, father (John Goodman) works as toll booth operator on the NJ Turnpike, she decides to move to NYC to realize her dream of being a successful songwriter, against dad's wishes. Meets all usual obstacles, rejection, apartment is robbed, broke, she quite accidentally finds about Coyote Ugly as one worker/dancer is leaving. Not "her cup of tea", she perseveres anyway. Also meets a nice young man who also helps her get over her fear of performing on stage.
Although it looks like Perabo does her own singing, as we learn on the DVD extras, Leann Rimes does all her singing, dubbing her voice to match Perabo's vocal style. Rimes also does an appearance near the end. Goodman is his usual good self as dad.
The DVD has selectable sound in either DTS or Digital Dolby 5.1. I selected DTS and the surround track was fine. There were a couple of "glitches" in the video, but overall was just fine. "Extras" included a commentary track by the "girls", which is fun to listen to, but not particularly helpful in understanding subtlties of the film. There are deleted scenes and short features on how some of the stars were selected.
Anyway, the film is a nice story, has some fun barroom action and dancing, no violence nor bad language, and only subtle sex suggestions. A good, fun movie for young and old alike.