Movie Review: The Ugly Truth

Here we go again...another romantic comedy. Let's take out our checklists, shall we? Good looking stars (✓ -- Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler), predictable plot (✓), a feeling like you've seen it all before (✓). So what makes this film any different? The only thing I can think of is the R rating. Seems like the producers wanted to set this movie apart from the rest of the romantic comedies by throwing in some stronger curse words here and there to achieve the more adult rating. Too bad director Robert Luketic (Monster in Law, Legally Blonde) didn't spice things up in better ways.

Abby, a morning show producer (Heigl), endures a series of outrageous tests by her male chauvinist correspondent, Mike (Butler), to prove his theories on relationships. His clever ploys, however, lead to the totally expected results -- she finds love at the same time that he falls in love with her. But is she really in love with her new neighbor Colin (Eric Winter) -- or with Mike? I'm pretty confident you already know the answer.

Heigl is that rare actress who is finding success in both movies (Knocked Up, 27 Dresses) and TV (Grey's Anatomy). But are we really supposed to believe that someone this beautiful is relationship-challenged? The ugly truth is that this film, despite a few laughs, is not very good. If you're still set on seeing a romantic comedy this summer, I suggest you see The Proposal -- a slightly better film in the weak genre. [Rated R; opens tomorrow]


Grade: C+


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