The Ugly Truth isn't so pretty. It's probably because I've seen this story a thousand times before. I'll explain. I'm thinking the pitch for this romantic comedy went something like this:
Writer: "It's Harry Met Sally and Roxanne and Anchorman."
Studio: "Who do you see as Sally?"
Writer: "Sally isn't in it."
Studio: "But, you said..."
Writer: "It's LIKE these movies, but it doesn't have a Harry, Sally or Roxanne."
Studio: "How about an anchorman...does it at least have an anchorman?"
Writer: "Yeah, kind of. I mean there is an anchorman and anchorwoman in the movie. Most of the action happens in a TV studio."
Studio: "Like the Mary Tyler Moore Show?"
Writer: "Yeah, sort of, but there is no Mary or Harry or Sally or Roxanne."
Studio: "How 'bout Lou and Rhoda?" "I really like that Lou and Rhoda. Are they in it?"
Writer: "No, but Catherine Heigl's attached."
Studio: "Who wants lunch!"
The Ugly Truth is a battle-of-the-sexes romantic farce starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Abby (Heigl) is a relationship-challenged TV producer of one of those Good Morning shows airing in every city on every network.
She's a Type-A overachiever who has her assistant do background checks on all of her dates. Since she's such a perfectionist, she doesn't have that many dates (Good men are so hard to find!). This leaves her assistant plenty of time to do assistant things like get her coffee and feel sorry for her. We know poor Abby's lonely. For Pete's sake she has a
This aural sex leads to the classic confrontation between Abby's beauty and Mike's beast.
You see, in addition to relationship-challenged, Abby's also ratings-challenged. The show she produces isn't knocking 'em dead in the viewership dept., so she's not doing that great at work either.
Enter Gerard Butler. He's Harry, to Heigl's Sally.
You see where this is going, right? Ratings down. Mike's take-no-prisoners advice is just the ticket to get Good Morning back on track. Before you can say ratings boost, Mike's on the morning shift and he's got Abby as his producer.
One problem solved. Now all we have to do is get Abby a guy.
Since Mike's pretty good in the advice dept., he offers to help Abby woo and win the cute doctor who (Boomers, this is
Since Abby's in his ear every morning, he gets the idea to wire her for sound. Soon, she's going out on dates with the cute doc with Mike providing the perfect prescription for L O V E. This aural sex leads to the classic confrontation between Abby's beauty and Mike's beast.
There are no plot twists to figure out or evil twins to complicate the story. Abby gets what she wants. Mike gets what he needs. And the audience gets to see The Ugly Truth for what it really is: the EyeMasters of romantic comedies. You get everything you expect in about an hour.
The Boomer Brief recommends Netflix for your movie rentals. The monthly rental packages start at only $4.99 - and you can cancel at any time.