Movie Review Rewind: The Ugly Truth (2009)

Brandon Vick flips the calendar back to 2009 for a look at Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl in The Ugly Truth on this edition of Movie Review Rewind!

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The Ugly Truth is a romantic comedy that tries to get away from the cheesy, isn’t-love-grand type of movie. This movie gets credit because it cuts down the simplicity of relationships. What men want from the girl and what the girl expects from the man is a simple concept, and shows how shallow people can be. That goes for men and women.

Abby (Katherine Heigl) is a TV producer who cannot find the right man. She wants a man who is sweet, funny, smart, and handsome. The regular checklist for women. Abby is a control freak who has pride and respect for herself, but is single. Then there is Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) – a TV personality who gets his own show on which Abby will be his producer. Mike discusses the mind games that are involved with relationships and how to play the game. Soon, Abby finds herself a part of his project to prove he is right about men and women and how they interact.

Butler is fantastic at playing Mike Chadway. Chadway doesn’t believe in love because of his heartbroken past. He would rather just have a one night stand and never speak to the woman again. Butler can play a lot of different roles and the movies he has done jump from a lot of different genres. From 300 to being in P.S. I Love You and then changing it up again in an ensemble movie called Rocknrolla. Butler plays Chadway as a tough guy who makes love seem simple, but it’s not. But, Chadway isn’t as tough as he seems.

Heigl is the woman who can see right through a man. But don’t think she can ignore the charm of Gerard Butler because she cannot. Heigl is funny in this movie and Butler is too. They have more freedom to dig a little deeper in to the subject of love and lust because the movie is rated R. But Heigl just hasn’t hit that point of being a top actress. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to top Knocked Up.

Unfortunately, The Ugly Truth falls in to the rom-com trap towards the end of the movie. It is predictable starting from the very beginning, but I can ignore that. It’s almost a given when it comes to these types of movies. However, it starts to become cheesy and almost tacky during the last 10 to 15 minutes. Not to spoil it, but it involves a hot air balloon. Enough said.

This movie had the fortune of getting two good actors who can cross the line with each other because of its rating. It’s like a Judd Apatow movie, but just not as good. The Ugly Truth almost brought itself down, but thankfully the movie was almost over. So it still is an above-average romantic comedy, but just barely.

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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