The battle of the sexes heats up in this romantic-comedy following Abby Richter (Knocked Up's Katherine Heigl) - a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr Perfect has left her hopelessly single. Abby has a rude awakening when her bosses team her with chauvinist Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick.
From the director of Legally Blonde and 21.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
Romantic comedies have gotten a bad rep as the most predictable and cliched of all the cinematic genres. Films like this are the reason why, with The Ugly Truth’s slavish devotion to convention rendering it painfully bland.
Some mildly misogynistic humour is injected in an attempt to spice things up, but that’s really just papering over the cracks of the script’s structural problems and it comes off like the poor man’s Knocked Up. Katherine Heigl’s presence certainly adds to that impression. She does her best to alleviate things with her onscreen love interest Gerard Butler. They’re as good as the material allows them to be and actually have a decent degree of chemistry between them.
Unfortunately, their love story isn’t particularly convincing and the jokes are more miss than hit. At the very least, the best gags aren’t all in the trailer so that’s something. But when you have to resort to praise like that, you have a dud on your hands.
The Ugly Truth is a cookie cutter rom-com that fans of the genre will gobble up on date night. If that’s not you, stay away.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
I expected some more hilarious laughs like in THE PROPOSAL. I guess they (Gerard/Katherine) don't have much chemistry together.
but the story and production degnerate into an real also ran. Agree with Flicks, - cookie cutter style all round.
It was definitely a let down for me. I guess I was expecting something like the proposal which I really enjoyed, but this film didn't have the same charm, and the photography wasn't anything too special. Some unnerving zolly shots during special moments that took away from the drama :(
I laughed my ass off in this movie, my boyfriend came along with me with the intentions of "Ill come if you really want me to hunni" and he laughed more than I did.It was hilarious!! :D
I think the Flicks review is a little hard on this movie. I went with an open mind and found it pretty funny. Not the best of it's type but if you think you might like this kind of movie to start with then I think you'll enjoy it.
The comedy bogs down in relentless predictability and the puzzling overuse of naughty words.
It's not as risqué as it wishes it were, nor as likable as it should be. Butler's rarely been better-cast, but the material's too patchy to support him .
A romantic comedy depends, of course, on the chemistry between the leads, and here the film is more successful. Both Heigl and Butler find the appeal in very flawed characters.
A cynical, clumsy, aptly titled attempt to cross the female-oriented romantic comedy with the male-oriented gross-out comedy that is interesting on several levels, none having to do with cinema.
Surprisingly sharp and sassy, this romcom for grown-ups is like many a romantic dalliance – the thrill of the chase is more fun than the catch.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 27th Aug 2009.
Release date: August 27th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
