The Ugly Truth Review: Is the Truth Really That Ugly?

Low expectations, weak trailers and little word of mouth led me to believe that The Ugly Truth had little to recommend it. True enough, there was little hope but, and other critics be damned, the movie is not as bad as I expected. Don’t worry, The Ugly Truth is by no means the latest Sleepless in Seattle and yet, for the dog days of summer, it could have been far worse.

Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler star as Abby Richter, television producer, and Mike Chadway, shock television host, for a local television channel. The ratings have been approaching zero and getting worse when the channel’s manager picks Chadway from the public access channel to spice things up. His show, appropriately named  The Ugly Truth, is about the battle between the sexes. Apparently, according to Chadway, women have taken to the trenches and are losing horribly. The abrasive and hyper-masculine host believes it’s his personal responsibility to rescue women, and thereby men, from themselves.

Enlisted as the savior of the morning news, even over the loud and articulate protests from the beautiful but sexually repressed Richter, Chadway begins his loudmouthed but oddly successful quest. Taking it upon his shoulders to save even the uptight but lonely producer -cum- control freak Abby, who pushes men away as fast as she meets them, Chadway of course falls in love with her: predictable of course, nearly every romantic comedy is, but still he handles the transformation gently and it plays well on screen. Abby doesn’t realize until it’s too late that maybe she has fallen too.

I want to reiterate, this is by no means a great or even different type of romantic comedy but, and the crowds seem to get better than the critics, Gerard Butler’s abrasive personality connects. He is the “Howard Stern” with a heart that sells movies. And, in a season when little else new is coming out, it’s an okay watch.

I would not strongly recommend the film, but if you have a couple of hours to kill and your date likes movies with strong sexual content and language, the film is worth catching.

Rating, a very lukewarm 3 out of 5.

See you at the movies, down in front.