The Ugly Truth

Review by Sean Lynch

Remember the old tale your high school teacher would tell you about an ex-student who was asked to write an exam on the phrase "What Is Courage?".

You know the one, where the student just hands in a single sheet of paper with the word : "This." on it?

Well - that's the sort of courage I wish I had the luxury of when it comes to gathering my thoughts about Katherine Heigl's latest rom-com The Ugly Truth.

What do I wish my single piece of paper said?

"Avoid."

How inspiring, but where's my A++?

Sadly, being paid by the word, courage often falls by the wayside in the film reviewing game.

So, the best way of getting back at the makers of The Ugly Truth for wasting my time is by simply using as many unrelated (and google friendly) words as I possibly can within this article.

So here we go:

• mp3

• weather

• autos

• music

• clip art

• jobs

• thumbzilla

• chat

• clipart

• greeting cards

• poems

• Song Lyrics

• winzip

• recipes

• dogs

• travel

• mapquest

• britney spears

• movies

• ask jeeves

• baby names

• marijuana

• anime

• kelly blue book

• zip codes

Cha-Ching!

For those have stuck around - here's what your in for with this doozy of a "Battle of the Sexes" dud.

Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She's in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick.

Now, let's bear in mind, I enjoy a cheesy rom-com as much as the next sappy fool. But this... where to begin? There is something about the recent spate of female-centric films that just makes women look nuts, and The Ugly Truth does nothing to change that trend.

Interestingly enough, Heigl slandered her hit Knocked Up in a Vanity Fair issue claiming it was "A little sexist" and that it painted women as "shrews, humorless and uptight... and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys" - yet she seems to have no troubles with this mess of a film (which I'm certain was written by a couple of eleven year old boys).

That said, the gals in the audience were howling like mums and grandmothers at a stripper fueled Hen's Night... which means, I gather, that all blokes are still safe to live by the rule : "Treat'em Mean, Keep'em Keen".

0.5 out of 5

The Ugly Truth
Australian release: 6th August, 2009
Official Site: The Ugly Truth
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter, Nick Searcy
Director: Robert Luketic