La dura verità

Abby (Katherine Heigl) is an intelligent producer of a local morning show in Sacramento, California. She lives with her cat in a beautiful, lushly-gardened apartment complex but, the lovely lady longs to meet Mr. Right. One day, bad news arrives, twofold. One, since the show's ratings have slipped, the owners of the station have decided to go in a new direction. And, two, that direction would be south, Abby believes, for they have hired a brash, I-don't-mince-words talk show host, Mike (Gerard Butler) for a reprise of his late-night call-in program, The Ugly Truth. Mike will do small segments of advice, where he will counsel women on what a man "really wants". Since Abby has a past with this gentleman (she had recently called the late night show to tell Mike to take a hike) the young producer is mighty peeved that he has been hired for "her" program. Instant dislike reigns supreme. However, Mike does seem to know about affairs of the heart, even in his twisted fashion, and starts to give advice to Abby, on how to "catch" the very handsome young doctor, Colin (Eric Winter) who has just moved into her complex. two doors down. But, since this requires Abby and Mike to actually converse and confide in one another, could it be that Cupid's arrows could go astray? This is a very raucous and funny romcom but. it is definitely not in the Doris Day tradition. Therefore, if you are easily offended or prefer "sweet" tales of love, with just a touch of spice, this one may not be for you. That said, the cast is really delightful, for Heigl and Butler make a most attractive. sparring duo and Winter turns heads with his looks and smiles. The supporting cast, with Cheryl Hines and the rest, is quite nice, too. Also, the Sacramento setting is lovely while the costumes are terrific and the production values high. As for the direction, it is full of energy and mischief, as befits a script that is clever but rather risqué. All in all, if you love romcoms or any of the stars, you will probably embrace this one with gusto. For the truth is, it is very romantic at its core, and that's the best ingredient a comedic love tale can possess.

The Ugly Truth is a entertaining romantic comedy about Abby Richter, a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She's in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Mike Chadway, a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. Although I think the movie is a little predictable and with some corny moments, it is also very enjoyable and funny. The cast is formed by Gerard Butler (300) and Katherine Heigl (27 Dresses) in the leading roles. Heigl is like in her previous movies very good, she is made for this type of movies and Butler is a real surprise, he did excellent in his very first romantic comedy. In conclusion, The Ugly Truth is a very enjoyable comedy for men and women.

Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of Gerard Butler, and I'm really not that familiar with Katherine Heigl, so I can't say that I went into this movie with particularly high expectations. But I have to confess that I was surprised. This is actually a very enjoyable movie, and at times (I'm thinking of the scene in the restaurant) it's downright hilarious. Heigl plays Abby, the uptight producer of a local Sacramento morning TV show who's always on the lookout for love but never finds it. Meanwhile, Mike (played by Butler) is the obnoxious host of an obnoxious talk show about relationships who gets hired for the morning show (against Abby's wishes) in the hopes of boosting ratings.

OK. You can pretty much see where this is going to end up so it can't be considered especially original, and it's true that once it takes its predictable turn (which is thankfully fairly late in the movie) it becomes rather formulaic as opposites attract and romance blossoms, etc., etc. But the story goes on for a while before that angle gets introduced, and there's a lot of fun along the way, especially as Abby and Mike first become friends and Abby tries to reinvent herself with Mike's help in order to snare a local doctor she's attracted to (who's played by Eric Winter.)

Yes, by the end it's quite predictable and the last 20 minutes or so become a little dull to be honest. But before then this movie does have a lot of laughs. Butler and Heigl also played their parts well and worked well together. It is at times (fairly often actually) a bit crude, so it's not for those who are looking for a sweet, innocent romance. But for a few laughs, this is worth watching. (7/10)

If you're looking for a breezy, predictable romcom that pokes fun at gender stereotypes, "The Ugly Truth" will fill the slot. It's basically a watered-down rehash of the classic "When Harry Met Sally" gender war romcom (right down to the orgasm at a restaurant scene) with nothing really new. Unfortunately the angle that would have given it a fresh spin ended up on the cutting room floor. I'll get to that in a sec. First let's summarize the story.

Abby (Katherine Heigl) is an uptight, prudish tv producer who is forced to work with a loud-mouthed, misogynistic talk show host named Mike (Gerard Butler). Each presents an extreme stereotype of the sexes: Abby is a control freak who expects her man to be straight out of the Hallmark Channel while Mike treats women like he's ordering at the McDonald's drive thru. The plot revolves around a bet: Mike tells Abby that if she follows his neanderthal advice, she can snare her perfect dream man.

So there's an interesting sort of role reversal, where the prudish female is taking lessons from the neanderthal bro in order to achieve her ideal Hallmark romance. That itself was a great start, but this clever spirit of the film got lost when they cut a few critical scenes (I guess because those scenes focused on character development and didn't have enough zingers).

The scenes that were cut showed exactly how hopelessly neurotic Abby is and why she keeps scaring men off. And they focused on the important, yet mostly lost, subplot of how fake Abby must become in order to snare her man. 4 or 5 scenes were cut, and rather than understanding the degree of Abby's "Pygmalion" transformation, we the audience are rushed through the process. Also cut are some scenes that show Mike to be more sensitive/human, giving his character depth which is otherwise lacking. The result of these cuts is, instead of this film showing more of a complex gender-role-reversal switcheroo, it simply falls back on the black & white stereotypes of men being neanderthals and women being prudes. Nothing exceptionally clever, but still entertaining enough.

So in the end, yes, I can understand why the watered down message could offend some. What we get is mostly the male perspective of Mike, reducing Abby's role to being his clueless sidekick. And the rest is predictable.

The angle of them on a tv set with a producer/talent relationship is interesting, but it's nothing really new if you've done your romcom homework. On that account I would sooner recommend "Groundhog Day" which has the identical setup--Bill Murray playing the narcissistic tv talent with Andie McDowell playing his more sensible-minded producer--except that Groundhog Day rightfully focuses on the narcissist coming down to earth, not the other way around which we see here.

A final note worth mentioning. I've heard it said that any movie that ends with a hot air balloon is insulting to the viewer's intelligence. There is indeed a hot air balloon in this one. So be prepared...

In Sacramento, the producer of a morning show Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a controller that has a checklist with items about the ideal man for her; however she can not find any man that fulfills her prerequisites. Her show has problems with the low ratings and the TV direction hires the cynical chauvinist Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) that hosts the popular and gross mannish show "The Ugly Truth" about what men and women really want in a relationship. Abby has frictions with Mike and he proposes to help her to get her attractive neighbor Colin (Eric Winter) that fulfills her checklist; in return she would support him in the show. Abby dates Colin but when Mike is invited to participate in the Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show in San Francisco, they get closer and fall in love for each other. But out of the blue, Colin arrives in Abby's room and she has to take a decision.

"The Ugly Truth" is a delightful romantic comedy supported by the beauty and charm of Katherine Heigl and her chemistry with Gerard Butler. The story is a sort of adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac to the environment of a television in the present days and there is an acid criticism about what American people want to see on television. In the end, the ugly truth is that love does exist. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Verdade Nua e Crua" ("The Ugly Truth")