Good idea, badly pulled off

Rating: 6/10 (28 October 2001)

After seeing the trailer and reading a little about the film, I liked the premise of Coyote Ugly a lot - small town girl goes to work at some kind of hardcore bar. However, writer Gina Wendkos has simply delivered a sappy love story, with a slightly darker edge, characterised by the Coyote Ugly bar, and probably the influence of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, better known for his work on action films such as Con Air and Enemy Of The State.
Now, this would have been my misunderstanding and me simply going to see the wrong movie if it were a good love story. However, the characters are hideously one dimensional (i.e. the audience knows nothing about the other two barmaids, Cammie and Rachel, both of whom seem to have leading roles, apart from their bar personalities). Even the protagonist's main development, the overcoming of her stage fright, doesn't really make any sense and seems to be a rushed conclusion rather than a gradual development.
However, after criticising it, Coyote Ugly is moderately entertaining. The bar scenes in particular, not just because of the acres of female flesh on display, but also because of the excitement of these scenes and the whole concept of the bar itself. With this in mind, the scenes shot in the actual bar are the best of the whole film, coming off like a music video. This does work against the film in the conclusion however, with the last 5-10 minutes seeming to be more of a promo for the film's music single rather than actually concluding the film satisfactorily.
Make no mistake about it, Coyote Ugly is entertaining, and even exciting in parts, but it's really just a cardboard story filled with one dimensional stock characters.
6/10