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The most funny scene in The Ugly Truth features a woman at a restaurant table having a really hefty orgasm. Sound familiar? The only difference is that this time the orgasm is real. Otherwise The Ugly Truth is one of those standard romantic comedies with a plot you’ve seen before about a boy and a girl who hate each other at first but will eventually end up in each others arms, and beds. The key to elevate this movie to mediocrity: the infinite charm of Gerard Butler.
Butler is one of those men who men want to be and women want to have. Ever since he yelled 300 full he’s been on a steady climb to A-list status and this movie will not do his climb any harm. Here he’s a late-night cable TV personality named Mike who is rather blunt in explaining to women that the perfect guy they always fantasize about having does not exist. He’s hired by a station manager to hopefully increase the ratings of a Morning TV Show in Sacramento. Producer Abby detests everything he stands for and is one of those women who’s looking for the perfect guy. She even has her assistant do background checks on her dates before she meets them. The outcome: he has nothing left to talk about himself as she already knows everything. As repulsed as she is about his methods and advice she does however comes to the conclusion that without help she’ll never find the perfect guy and when a hot neighbor comes to her attention she enlists the help of Mike.
The moment you start this movie you know the outcome and the movie doesn’t even try to take a detour from the well known path it takes. But the character of Mike, with all his profanities and simple ways of saying “we men never evolved all that much” is a delight to watch. The bickering between him and Abby is obligatory yet fun to witness. But it never is groundbreaking and this movie could’ve well been made 20 years ago. Only then it would have probably starred Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. It’s like fast-food: you feel stuffed when the end-credits role but 20 minutes later you’re hungry again.
The Ugly Truth is not a bad movie, it’s just that it’s not a very good movie either. It’s entertaining, but not memorable.
