The Ugly Truth is one of the average cliche romantic comedies that isn’t funny and is more so annoying. Its predictable story is at the level of The Proposal, except that film had two likable leads and a decent sense of humor to make it at least mildly amusing.
The story revolves a hopelessly romantically-challenged morning show producer named Abby, played by Katherine Heigl. Throughout her life she has been unable to meet “Mr. Perfect.” She’s a control freak, neurotic and purely hopeless. After her boss hires a misogynistic, but honest, TV show host named Mike Chadway (played by Gerard Butler), she must fight to maintain the integrity of her show. Mike soon starts to get on her good side by helping her get with her neighbor. Shockingly (note sarcasm), the more she gets to know Mike during this process she soon comes to like him.
This story is downright dopey. Everything happens that is expected from a rom-com like this and it’s entirely bothersome. The first act conveys Mike and Abby not getting a long due to their perceptions of relationships. The second act covers when they start to slowly fall for each other despite being nothing alike. Spiler Alert (whatever) – then the third act shows the part where they split apart, but surprisingly get back together at the end. If someone cannot guess what is going to happen at the end of the film then they have undoubtedly never seen a film about love. There’s hardly any story to this that audiences haven’t seen before, it never does anything new nor does it try to.
Butler is the only actor who survives this film, coming off likable as he usually does in lighter roles. Butler comes away unscathed in this genre, but he’s more so suited for action movies. These films only allow him to play the walking cliche where in his other films, 300 and RocknRolla, he actually portrays investable characters. Heigl proved her talents in Knocked Up, but any of that film’s indication has been lost since. She’s playing the same character in every one of these films. She isn’t believable: it’s hard to buy a woman with Heigl’s looks would be a hopeless romantic. Both of them are stuck playing generic characters with nothing to do except act over-the-top, which is also what the rest of the cast does.
The Ugly Truth is just another entry in the forgettable romantic comedy category that simply doesn’t work. It’s a raunchy comedy that isn’t funny and drags through its entire running time, despite being only ninety-five minutes.