Starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, John Michael Higgins, and Cheryl Hines
Written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz, and Kirsten Smith
Directed by Robert Luketic
***SPOILERS AHEAD...THEN AGAIN, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CAN'T GUESS THE ENDING OF THIS ONE.***
A friend has a theory that women like to watch movies with characters crazier than them because it can make them feel better about themselves -- an "I'm better than her and if she can get a man, I can get a man" kind of mentality. While I haven't seen as many flicks as him this year, I think he may be on to something with that theory.
The same thing happens here -- Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a morning news show producer, who is ridiculously out-of-touch with men. The film starts out with her on a date that is so unbelievable it just set her character off on the wrong track. Anyway, the morning news show is floundering in the ratings and her boss hires misogynistic "relationship expert" Mike (Gerard Butler) to host a segment called "The Ugly Truth" on the show. Abby's unhappy because she thinks Mike's a jerk, but in order to show Abby that he knows what he's talking about, he helps the unlucky-in-love Abby snag a man. Abby falls in love with the guy, Mike get jealous...there's witty repartee leading to sexual tension between them...you don't need to be a genius to know what's going to happen.
And that's the problem with the flick. In the end, it follows every romantic comedy cliché in the book. There was no surprise...I was really hoping it wasn't going to end the way it did, but I should've known better. And Heigl's character is a mess. She's a smart executive, yet has no social skills while on a date, admitting to doing a background check and ridiculing her date for ordering bottled water instead of tap water? That was the one of the opening scenes with Heigl's character and it just set me off on the wrong foot with her.
However, despite my issues with the main character, everyone surrounding her is top notch. Gerard Butler is really funny. He's given some deliciously dirty, nasty, and inappropriate lines to spew and he does it perfectly. Add in a cute performance from Bree Turner as Abby's assistant, and two absolutely winning roles from Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins as the sexually frustrated morning show news anchors (who also happen to be married), and it's a shame that the main character couldn't have been more convincing. Still, it's these four actors mentioned in this paragraph that elevate this movie and make it much better than it deserves to be.
Unfortunately, what really brings the movie down the most is that I can't understand in the slightest why Abby and Mike would end up together in the end. What does she find attractive in him? I mean, I guess it's that he can love her for who she really is (that's what the movie wants us to think, anyway), but, without a doubt, he's a prick.
If I learned anything from this movie, it's that I'm too damn nice. I need to wrestle with chicks in jello in order to find true love, I guess...
The RyMickey Rating: C-
