The Ugly Truth
| The Ugly Truth | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Luketic |
| Written by | Story Nicole Eastman Screenplay Karen McCullah Lutz Kirsten Smith Nicole Eastman |
| Produced by | Katherine Heigl Karen McCullah Lutz Kirsten Smith Tom Rosenberg |
| Starring | Katherine Heigl Gerard Butler |
| Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
| Edited by | Lisa Zeno Churgin |
| Music by | Aaron Zigman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | July 24, 2009 |
Running time | 95 min. |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $38 million |
| Box office | $104,863,190 [1] |
The Ugly Truth is a Template:Fy American romantic comedy film starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The film was released in North America on July 24, 2009.
Plot
Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a morning show TV producer in Sacramento, California. Coming home from a disastrous date one night, she happens to see a segment of a local television show, "The Ugly Truth", run by Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), whose cynicism about relationships prompts Abby to call into the show to argue with him on-air. The next day, she discovers that the station is threatening to cancel her show because of its poor ratings, and the station owner has hired Mike to do a segment on her show to bring them back up.
At first, the two have a rocky relationship; Abby thinks Mike is crass and disgusting while Mike finds Abby to be a control freak. Nevertheless, when she meets the man of her dreams, a doctor named Colin (Eric Winter) living next to her, Mike persuades her to follow his lead. She agrees to his helpful advice and if he can get her the man she wants, proving his theories on relationships, she will work happily with him, but if Mike fails, he agrees to quit.[2]
Mike succeeds in improving the ratings of the show, helps bring the married co-anchors closer together, and successfully guides Abby to be exactly what Colin would want. Mike is invited to appear on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and is being offered the chance to move to another network. Abby is forced to cancel a romantic weekend away with Colin, during which they had planned to finally sleep together, and instead go with Mike and persuade him to stay with the morning show. After the show, they go for drinks and dancing, and Mike admits he doesn't want to move and is happier to stay in Sacramento with his sister and nephew. In the elevator, they passionately kiss and almost get to the point of intense sex but leave for their separate rooms when the doors open. Mike, dealing with his inner conflict of the intensity of his feelings for Abby, calls on her room only to find Colin has shown up to surprise her. He leaves Abby to be with Colin. Abby is upset and soon realizes Colin only likes the woman she has been pretending to be, not the real her, and she breaks up with him.
Mike leaves for another local station, but ends up doing an outside broadcast at the same hot-air balloon festival as Abby, and he cannot resist returning to argue with her when she kicks the new "Mike Chadway" imitator off the air and goes into a tirade about men. The balloon they are standing in takes off while they argue and finally, Abby tells Mike she broke up with Colin, and Mike admits he loves her. Abby then kisses him and they are shown kissing passionately while flying off in the balloon. Despite their obvious differences, they stay together and at the end of the movie, are shown having intense sex. Mike, unsure of whether he's taught Abby how to fake too well, asks if her response at climax was genuine after the lights are switched on. Abby responds by smiling and saying he'll never know before shutting off the lights again.
Cast
- Katherine Heigl as Abby Ritcher
- Gerard Butler as Mike Chadway
- Eric Winter as Colin
- Cheryl Hines as Georgia
- John Michael Higgins as Larry
- Bree Turner as Joy
- Kevin Connolly as Jim
- Yvette Nicole Brown as Dori
Production
The film is made by the producers of Legally Blonde[2] and written by a team of three women.[3]
Filming locations
The film was, for the most part, filmed in on location in California, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Pedro.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received generally negative reviews and as of August 7, 2009 received a 16% approval rate based on 131 reviews, compared to the site's community score of 64% approval.[4] Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers gave the movie a half star out of four, stating: "There's not a genuine laugh in it .... Toss this ugly-ass crap to the curb, along with the other multiplex garbage, and see a romance that gets it right." [5]
Ruth McCann of The Washington Post called the film "indulgently glossy, refreshingly snarky and legitimately sexy". Kara Nesvig of the Star Tribune said "the dialogue is snappy and sexy, Heigl and Butler spar with zingy chemistry, and though the ending is as predictable as you'd assume, it's a sexy sort of popcorn flick". The A.V. Club gave the movie a D.[6]
Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars, saying that Heigl and Butler were "pleasant" but "the movie does them in." He commented on the restaurant scene that also was a red-band clip on YouTube[7], saying that "Heigl makes a real effort" but that Meg Ryan's scene in When Harry Met Sally was the gold standard "in this rare but never boring category". As for portraying the morning news realistically, he says "the film makes Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy look like a documentary".[3]
Box office
The film opened to third place at the box office - behind Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in its second weekend) and the newly released G-Force—with $27,605,576 and the highest per-screen average in the top 10. As of September 24, 2009, the film has grossed $88,440,877 domestically and $16,712,190 from foreign markets for a worldwide total of $105,153,067 . [8]
In Great Britain and Ireland, the film topped the box office and took in £1.9m in its opening weekend, fighting off competition from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which entered at number two with £1.7m.
Home video release
The Ugly Truth will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 10, 2009.
References
- ^ "The Ugly Truth at Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ a b Tatiana Siegel (2008-03-17). "Cheryl Hines learns 'The Ugly Truth'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ^ a b http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090722/REVIEWS/907229983
- ^ The Ugly Truth at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/21416728/review/29304802/the_ugly_truth
- ^ http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-ugly-truth,30784/
- ^ YouTube - The Ugly Truth - Ceviche Orgasm
- ^ Box Office Mojo 2009 weekend 30