Not Bad but Could Have Been Better

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2013)

I'll admit that part of the reason I have a soft spot for this movie is that it's set in my hometown of sorts, Sacramento, and it involves the broadcast industry (I say "of sorts," because although I never lived in Sactown, I worked there for years..in the broadcast industry). There are some really good shots of the downtown area in particular (Director Robert Luketic obviously likes to open his movies with relatively low view-from-the-sky city shots.."21" opened in similar fashion in Boston).
The movie's principals are Abby (Katherine Heigl), a producer for a local morning news show who's also an anal retentive control freak with no sense of humor. She's under pressure from her boss because the show is tanking in the ratings. Contrast that with Mike (Gerard Butler), a foul-mouthed misogynist with his own cable access show called "The Ugly Truth," where he discusses "relationships." Abby runs across the show by accident after coming home alone from an unsuccessful date (which seems to be a common occurrence with her), and proceeds to call Mike during the show when she takes exception to some of his remarks (among other things he tells women who want a relationship to get on a stair master and get some trashy lingerie). Mike proceeds to skewer her on the air. The next morning, she gets a surprise: Her boss has hired Mike and is incorporating "The Ugly Truth" into the show, which up until that point has been a milquetoast local version of Regis and Kathie Lee, featuring a husband and wife team who put on a facade of wedded bliss but in reality can't stand each other (he's a moron and a wimp, she's an angry, shrill-voiced harpy). The first thing Mike does on the show is expose this for everyone to see. Needless to say, Abby is furious, and is still unhappy even when ratings improve.
Abby then discovers that she has a neighbor who has all the qualities she's looking for in a man (she's so anal she actually keeps a checklist of said qualities). Mike makes her a deal. He'll help her get the guy if she'll get off Mike's back, and if she can't land Mr. Perfect, Mike promises to quit. This is where the movie starts to degenerate into the predictable rom-com M.O.(boy and girl meet, hate each other at first but ultimately end up together). Of course, "Mr. Perfect" isn't really the right guy, and you know who's she's going to end up with.
That said, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments in this movie to make it relatively enjoyable as "chick flicks" go, even for the guys. Gerard Butler is especially entertaining in this, but what makes Mike's misogynistic rants even funnier is when they're played off of Abby's "what's so funny, I don't find anything funny!" attitude. This movie is raunchy..definitely deserving of its R rating. Some parts I found hilarious; others made me cringe. In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that it falls into the standard rom-com formula, there are enough genuinely funny moments in The Ugly Truth to keep you entertained.