FLIX/The Ugly Truth Isn't Worth an Honest Buck

Photo by Saeed Adyani/Sony Pictures Mike Chadway is a brash, egotistical, and shoot from the hip host of a cable access show called…wait for it…The Ugly Truth.

It would be a beautiful lie to say The Ugly Truth is a unique film that focuses on an unusual path two people take to realize their love for one another.
 
The Ugly Truth, which opened in DC theaters on July 24 and is rated R, stars Katherine Heigl as Abby Richter, a neurotic control freak who takes her job as a television morning show producer very seriously.  
 
Unfortunately for Abby, her general neurosis and narrow-minded preconditions on dating leave her with many lonely nights.  If her character seems somewhat familiar it is because she played almost the exact same person in Knocked Up, right down to working in the television business.  
 

Photo by Saeed Adyani/Sony Pictures The Ugly Truth stars Katherine Heigl as Abby Richter, a neurotic control freak who takes her job as a television morning show producer very seriously.

At this rate Jeremy Piven is less typecasted than Katherine Heigl.  And no one should want to be worse than Jeremy Piven in anything.
 
Abby can’t seem to find a boyfriend because she is looking for an ideal man that exists only in romance novels and fairy tales.  She wants a guy who is smart, good looking, funny, successful, in shape and attentive to her needs.  
 
Sadly for her, the great Paul Newman is dead and no one like that exists anymore.  So unless she really likes popcorn and salad dressing, Abby’s dream guy isn’t coming to her rescue anytime soon.  
 
On one of Abby’s lonely nights she comes home after an awful date (with Kevin Connolly) and watches TV.  Her cat flips the channel and we meet Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), the brash, egotistical, and shoot from the hip host of a cable access show called…wait for it…The Ugly Truth.  
 
Abby is repulsed by what Mike has to say about women and their “rules” and “ideal man”, which leads to a confrontation between them.  It’s hard to believe Abby is repulsed by Mike given the fact she was just on a date with Kevin Connolly.  This guy gets opportunity after opportunity when most just want him to go away.  He’s the Brett Favre of Hollywood, minus the earlier career successes.   
 
Shockingly, Abby’s producer sees the same program and hires Mike to take on the same role for the very show Abby produces to try to boost ratings and save the show.  Will they be able to get along?  Will she compromise her journalistic standards to get ratings?  Will the fact that she hates him so much morph into sexual tension?  Will this movie be in the theaters for more than two weeks?  These were all questions that needed to be answered.   
 
Eventually Mike gets Abby to warm up enough to let him coach her into attracting her neighbor, a preppy orthopedist named Colin, who fits every one of Abby’s criteria in a mate.  He seems like the perfect guy for Abby, however during their courtship Abby acts like someone she’s not.  Under the direction of Mike, Abby pretends to be carefree, do house chores in evening wear, and enjoy caviar.  
 

Photo by Saeed Adyani/Sony Pictures Will Abby and Mike be able to get along? Will she compromise her journalistic standards to get ratings? Will the fact that she hates him so much morph into sexual tension? Will this movie be in the theaters for more than two weeks?

In one scene Mike and Abby go so far as to wear earpieces so he can monitor her date with Mr. Perfect and espouse advice.  I liked this practice better the first time I saw it on Seinfeld when Newman, while hiding behind a row of books, tried to guide Kramer into Pam’s heart while spewing rhetoric against those who complain about the post office.
 
Another scene puts Abby and Colin at a corporate dinner with Abby’s company.  She mistakenly puts on the wrong piece of clothing and its intended purpose is evident to everyone in the restaurant, especially those at her table.  It’s too bad Sally Albright wasn’t sitting nearby to claim a patent violation.  I’m surprised another patron didn’t tell the waitress she’d wear what Abby was wearing.  A plagiarist has more originality than the writers of this movie.
 
At one point in the film, during an argument between Mike and Abby, he tells her that it is called the ugly truth and if she couldn’t handle it then not to ask for it.  Something similar could be said of the film – it’s titled The Ugly Truth, and if the writers/director could only come up with a predictable and unoriginal film, then they shouldn’t have made it.  Before seeing this movie I would have bet on its ending.  
 
If football games were as easy to pick, I’d be a millionaire.
 
Steve D'Ettore lives in Alexandria. To contact him, email him at stevedettorre@yahoo.com