a movie that young girls should go see; a really good date movie; one of the best movies of 2000

Rating: 9/10 (29 August 2000)

Coyote Ugly. ****. USA, 2000, Directed by David McNally starring Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, John Goodman. I went to see this movie without my wife. She decided from watching the trailers and see the ads that it was some dumb T&A drunk guy bar movie. I mean that sounded OK to me; but I was really surprised. `Coyote Ugly' is one of the best movies I've seen so far this year. `Coyote Ugly' is the best romantic comedy that I've seen since `Notting Hill.' Violet Sanford (Perabo) is a young woman from small town New Jersey and she's moving to the Big Apple to seek fame and fortune as a song writer. Her dad (Goodman) and her friends don't want her to leave. Her best friend reminds her that they have never carried through on any of their dreams (preserving their virginity, going to college, going to beauty school) so why does she want to pursue her dream of being a famous songwriter? But Violet is off to the city, where she naïvely goes from one agency to the other trying to sell her songs. Needing to earn money she ends up working at `Coyote Ugly' serving drinks and dancing on the bar. All the familiar plot points of a romantic comedy follow and you just know everything is going to end up happily ever after. And it does. But there are a number of things that make `Coyote Ugly' a good movie. The acting is good. John Goodman is especially good as Violet's father. All the girls at the bar are good. Garcia is good as the boyfriend and love interest. Another thing I liked about the story is the persistence of the main character. When life was getting her down, she'd have a good cry and go back out and kick some butt. She stuck to her dream and worked hard to achieve it. In the end she has friends, family, the promise of a carrier, and a boyfriend. The more I think about this movie, it's not a movie for oafish guys who want a T&A moment. `Coyote Ugly' is a movie that young girls should go see; a really good date movie; one of the best movies of 2000.