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Visual:		4.0
Audio:		4.0
Acting:		6.0
Writing:		3.0
Score:		4.0

Director(s):	Robert Luketic
Writer(s):	Karen McCullah Lutz, Nicole Eastman
Starring:	Bree Turner • Eric Winter • Gerard Butler • John Michael Higgins • Katherine Heigl
Genre:	Comedy • Romance
Website:	http://www.thetruthisntpretty.com/
Release Date:	July 24, 2009
Rated:

There’s little you can say about a romantic comedy to sway its intended audience from laying down the money for a ticket – because honestly, and this pains me to say, they don’t make enough of them when you consider the business proportionately. Further complicating the matter? They don’t make nearly enough good ones. When you consider that Bride Wars is one of the most critically acclaimed romantic comedies of the year, you begin to have some scope as to how desolate the offerings on this front have become. But then The Ugly Truth comes along, and you realize things can always get worse.

Gerard Butler seems content with appearing in romantic comedy flicks like P.S. I Love You, and you know what? Fine, as long as they’re safely within the realms of mediocrity, let the man be happy; but if he decides to do too many more like The Ugly Truth someone needs to sit him down and explain what’s going wrong with his career.

Abby (Katherine Heigl), an uptight television producer, has her world rocked when crude and crass commentator Mike (Butler) is brought in for a daily “sex talk” column named “The Ugly Truth”. He quickly skyrockets to popularity with his fresh no-nonsense take on everything people never thought you could talk about on TV. Even as Abby condemns Mike for his lack of tact, she must admit that maybe she needs his services as well when date after date goes awry due to her controlling and obsessive nature getting in the way of romance. So when her hottie neighbor (Eric Winter) shows up, Abby is willing to try out Mike’s advice.

You know how this ends. You knew how this ended before the first trailer rolled in the slightly too air-conditioned theater. Yes, romantic comedies are predictable but they deliver a comedic spin on a romance many yearn for. But there is such a thing as being too predictable. There’s not an unexpected bone in this film’s celluloid body and the jokes seldom land like they should. It’s only when the comedy is truly exceptional that a lack of originality can be forgiven.

Butler and Heigl have little to offer the film’s proceedings unless they’re rallying small talk off of one another. Their exchanges of barbs make for a solid five minutes of comedy in a film that should have run no longer than that. But it does and the two stars are often left squeezing desperately for drops of comedy from a formula that ran dry so many years ago. Taming of the Shrew and She’s All That are both fun concepts for filmmakers to play around with – but the pairing of the two requires a little bit of help beyond the simple framework. Without Butler to play off of, Heigl may still be beautiful but no matter what role she plays she comes across as insufferably, dare I say, bitchy? Butler has got the comedy skills but even his decent performance can’t save him when he chooses a clunker like this. There are a few fun moments that arise from playing a shock jock, but really you just can’t save a story this far gone.

It’s weird that Heigl would take on the role of an uptight female role that becomes more likeable by conforming to the male-preferred image of women. After all she’s said against the role created for her in Knocked Up, the hypocrisy required to take on this role is just mind-boggling. Oh, the men don’t like you? Wear a tight dress and show lots of cleavage – problem solved. I appreciate the point she was trying to make with her rant two years ago, but talk about one step forward two steps back.

It’s a shame that good romantic comedies are so few and far between, but that doesn’t mean you should have to settle for this subpar offering. Rent it on DVD, but don’t give them the impression that you’ll see anything they put out there.