The Ugly Truth: Movie Review (2009)

Directed by Robert Luketic, written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, 95 minutes, rated R.

Everybody loves a good romantic comedy. Unfortunately, nobody gets one in Robert Luketic’s “The Ugly Truth,” a crude movie that’s a curiosity, but not a surprise, at least for anyone who sees where the genre is going, which essentially is down a dark hole of no return.

Let’s hope Alice never finds herself there.

In this genre, there always will be exceptions to the rule, but if you’ve caught a whiff of what Hollywood has been shoveling into it lately, then you’ll have a good idea of what’s in store for you here--an illiterate movie with good-looking stars who talk trash, crank up the charisma, and who are forced to share the biggest laugh with a vibrator.

Nobody should consider this upward mobility.

Who’s responsible for the script? Those eager to point fingers should turn to Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, all good students of the substandard who apparently and illogically are unabashed misogynists.

To wit, let’s consider the storyline: Katherine Heigle is Abby, an unhappy single woman making a go of it in Sacramento as the producer of a failing morning television show.

Gerard Butler is Mike, who is brought in to shake things up and tantalize sleepy female television audiences with his hard-hitting “Ugly Truth” segments (“If you want a man, get on a Stairmaster!”). Together, he and Abby make for an abrasive team, so much so that she strikes a deal with him to get him off the show.

It comes down to this: Cocky Mike knows that Abby is smitten with a local surgeon (Eric Winter) she wants to hook. And so, since he’s confident that he can seal the deal for her with a little help, he agrees to quit the show if his advice fails to make her attractive to the man. Abby agrees. The game is on.

Cue the vibrating panties. Cue the perkier breasts, the tight dresses, the Jell-O wrestling, and the proper way to eat a hot dog, which for Abby means eating it slowly and in such a way that appeals to a man’s more basic instincts.

While you’re at it, you might as well cue the predictable script, and the ongoing run of raunchy cliches, all of which conspire to bring these two together while exposing that Mike isn’t quite the heathen he appears to be. If that revelation comes as a shock to anyone, my apologies.

And might I be the first to congratulate you on seeing your first movie.

Grade: D

View the trailer for "The Ugly Truth" here: