mediocre comedy

Rating: 5/10 (16 March 2011)

The Ugly Truth tells the story of Mike (Gerard Butler) a host of a TV show of the same name, in which he bluntly tells single women that the crap of prince charming they believe in and the advice they get from self-help books won't help to get them a boyfriend. After moving to a new TV network, Mike meets his producer Abby (Katherine Heighl), who initially hates him, then tolerates him for the sake of the ratings, and ends becoming buddy with him to get her the love of her hot neighbor.
The funny thing is that the script uses all topics and tips that self- help books offer to women, even though Mike states in his program that he's against them. In other words, there is an absolute incongruity between what the character of Mike preaches and what the script does. I could not be otherwise since this is a romantic comedy targeted to women. A pity that, by doing so, treats the viewer as if we were all blind idiots.
The most daring element of the film is that it is a romantic comedy where sex and sexual vocabulary are explicit and unsweetened. Said, this, there is not one single nude sex scene (actually just one sex scene), and even the orgasm scene is more comic and tasteless than daring. More unexpected than daring I would say. If you want to do something really provocative go all the way, with all the consequences.
The leading couple, played by the always charming and hot Butler and the ultra-feminine Heighel, has a great chemistry on camera. However, their individual performances are uneven. Heighel starts the film overacting and she's not believable in her role until midway the film. On the contrary, Butler has a surprising easiness for romantic comedies, and plays his role with charm and cheekiness; in fact, he's perfect for this sort of roles, although he seems to be choosing bad quality movies that don't showcase his talent, but melt it away.
The film is entertaining and has some funny scenes, but is full of stereotypes both in the script as in the drawing of the characters, and mediocre acting overall, which really ruins the whole thing.