The Ugly Truth

Ah, the requisite summer chick flick. The complexities surrounding the Mars and Venus personalities of the two extremely opposite genders is explored in this vehicle starring, and produced by Katherine Heigl and her Hollywood virgin mother, Nancy Heigl.

Let me begin by saying that I am a little biased. I don't like Katherine Heigl. She is attractive, but her acting is suspect. I lump her in with Anna Faris - using beauty to try to break into comedy, while it just doesn't seem natural enough. It is frustrating to see her become so successful despite obvious industry deficiencies, but I guess Hollywood loves a pretty face.

You have to give her credit for pulling the clout to get her mom an executive producer title, but that raises a red flag for me as to the quality of the film in the first place. An additional tidbit - mom is producing the next 4 movies that Heigl is producing/acting in. Good for her, but I won't be paying for any of them.

Enough of that - let's get to the movie. The premise is so cliche it is cringe-inspiring. Successful corporate woman who exhibits typical emotionally suppressed feminist attitude meets an exaggerated misogynist hunk with a heart of gold when you peel back the layers. I will wait to proceed while you vomit.

Gerard Butler's character is well done in the sense that he has a charming smile and a good comedic sense of timing. His lines are generally funny as well, but in a mostly entertaining sense, not anything exceptional. Where he fails is in his attempt to hide his Scottish accent. It is unnatural and actually makes you wonder why they didn't hire someone without an accent, or just modify the part to be a UK transplant.

Heigl tries too hard to be funny and pretty, and the subtle attempt to promote girl power is not lost on the audience at all. She participates in the raunchy jokes and gags and her character even learns a valuable lesson in the end, but it is not enough to make her likable.

The two of them have little chemistry other than two unrealistically attractive people who have absolutely no respect for each others views until they realize that they are in love with each other (sorry - should have mentioned spoiler). It is predictable and mindless, but there are some moments of humor scattered throughout.

One such source of the humor is the completely under-appreciated supporting player John Michael Higgins. He is one of those comedic actors who is recognized by everyone but just can't be named. He is one of Christopher Guest's regular accomplices and most recently can be seen in a recurring commercial role as a blowhard corporate executive doing battle against DirectTV. His earlier work is hilarious, and he shines in every role he takes.

This film is about as typical as a RomCom can be, and despite the flaws mentioned, it wasn't too painful to watch. The predictable ending pleasantly came and went faster than most in the genre. I suppose this film will be better received by women than men, but there is a raunchy appeal that may draw a bit of a male crowd, and the typical paradigm of "man changes, they live happily ever after" is modified so that both the man and the woman come to realizations and make significant compromises (although utterly ridiculous).

All in all, it is a vehicle for Heigl(s) to get richer and there is little substance to the story. I would say that despite the lull in the summer movie season, better to skip this one and wait for some of the more promising August films. 6/10.