Glossy - unfortunately, so are the women

Rating: 7/10 (14 March 2002)

Had this been produced twenty years earlier, we would have seen bare breasts, the flesh would have looked more like flesh, the women would have looked less alike so that at least ONE of them would have been more attractive - perhaps she would have had a body as well as a face - and what we've lost in explicit detail and natural fleshiness, we have NOT gained in erotic presentation, although I admit that adolescent sex teasers of twenty years ago were by and large pretty poorly produced. Decisions of who to cast and how much skin to show are now determined to the millimetre, it seems, by simple, cold algorithms. There's no spontaneity whatever. I'm aware how silly I sound in saying this, but if you must watch "Coyote Ugly", don't do so for the chicks - watch it for the story. It's another slickly produced, enjoyably formulaic tale from the Bruckheimer factory, and since the selling point is this time ersatz sexiness rather than ersatz violence, it's a good deal less offensive than most. I was happy enough to cheer Violet on in her quest to break into the music business. Why not? But don't construe this as a recommendation.