The Ugly Truth

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2010)

Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a producer for a local TV station's morning news program in Sacramento. The show is struggling, pulling in less viewers than reruns of Geraldo, and her boss Stuart (Nick Searcy) is looking for something to draw viewers to their morning show. When he finds out that a cable access show called The Ugly Truth run by Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) is pulling in viewers thanks to Mike's brash attitude toward relationships, he brings The Ugly Truth to the morning show as a regular installment on the morning show, much to Abby's chagrin.
Best known for his turn in 300 Gerard Butler has amassed a somewhat large female following (I'm sure the uniforms in 300 didn't hurt), making him something of a recent go-to guy for romantic comedies as of late. Katherine Heigl, originally of Grey's Anatomy fame, found her in to movies when Anne Hathaway dropped out of Knocked Up allowing her to jump into the lead female spot. Since then she seems to have taken a spot in the lead in several romantic comedies appearing next in romantic action comedy Killers with Ashton Kutcher. So coming from somewhat different backgrounds how do these two play together in the movies?
Fairly well. In a movie like this, you need to believe that the main characters despise each other, and Heigl embodies that in this movie. And while Chadway, if played improperly, could come off as totally unlikeable, Butler makes you like this sexist neo-perv. It's in the characterizations and acting that the movie grabs your attention and pulses with the ability to make you laugh. Another thing that I found more welcome on my end, was the R rating for a romantic comedy, something that you don't typically see in most romantic comedies. The willingness to push things just a little further was kind of refreshing.
I can't really say there's much that I didn't enjoy with this movie. As I've said before in my review of The Proposal, this movie doesn't reinvent the romantic comedy, nor does it need to. In the end it's fairly by the numbers, but does more to bring in audience members from both sexes, making it a much better date movie than you can typically come to expect from most romantic comedies. I recommend this movie, especially to guys who need a romantic comedy to watch with their women.
3.5/5