Mucky, but has its moments

Rating: 6/10 (19 August 2009)

In The Ugly Truth, Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a TV producer whose magazine programme is going down the tubes until, against her wishes, crude, crass Mike (Gerard Butler) is brought on board with his segment The Ugly Truth in which he examines relationships in a crude, sensationalist, oafish way. And ratings go up.
Abby (established early on as a humourless control freak), having not been able to establish a relationship for ages, recruits Mike to advise her on how best to hook new neighbour doctor Colin, which he achieves for her. The only thing is that she and Mike.... well, you get the drift.
The plot is pretty straightforward. The film, as seems to be the fashion these days, is sometimes fairly clinical in its examination of sexual matters (notwithstanding that the vibrating knickers sequence is pretty funny). Some serious issues are exposed even if conclusions aren't always reached. Gerard Butler does OK as Mike despite the fact that he has little apparent screen chemistry with Katherine Heigl.
But Katherine Heigl is fantastic. She is a gifted comedy actress and a decent serious actress (she gets the opportunity to do both here). Plus she does demure and outrageously sexy at the same time. One hopes that her fabulous looks won't eclipse her undoubted skills.
This is a decent romcom in the modern manner, suitable for the broad minded.