The Ugly Truth, movie review

With a better script, this could've been a smarter movie. As it is, it relies heavily on the good looks of the two leads, the funny but misogynistic and shallow comments of Gerard Butler's character and Katherine Heigl's ability to embarrass herself. In short, it gives you exactly what you could expect and nothing more.

There are some very funny moments, like Katherine Heigl hanging upside down from a tree, but the plot is like something out of a sweet dreams book (does Kiss Me Creep ring a bell for anyone else?) extracted for an older audience with the addition of some crude humour – although when that crude humour is delivered by Gerard Butler, you can't help but be charmed by the smarm. The Ugly Truth tries so hard to be a funny movie that the attempt to bring in some depth towards the end flounders entirely and becomes psych 101 cliché. Anyway, who's going to believe that someone who looks like Katherine Heigl is a loser at attracting guys?

But it is a funny movie – the audience laughed a LOT during the showing I was at – and a particularly good date movie for its feelgood factor and gender-balanced humour.