The Ugly Truth

Have you ever noticed how some introductions write themselves? When thinking about what to say about The Ugly Truth a few interesting headlines sprung to mind. Luckily for me (and the film) I don't do headlines so that wasn't really something to be considered for long.

Harmless and charmless. (it may read like a headline but it's in the middle of my review so it can't be!)

The story is and was always going to be fairly predictable wasn't it? Girl and boy meet. Girl dislikes boy but fancies hunky other boy. Boy helps girl win other boy and in the process unwittingly woos girl with his roguish charm. Boy and girl end up together. Leave to cool and season to taste.

There's the harmless. Now here's the charmless:

Katherine Heigle - considered by many the most talentless actress on the planet. I personally disagree, however I won't be entering this film as Exhibit A!

Far worse than dear old Izzie is Gerard Butler. Before I watched the film, a friend helpfully pointed out to me that he has a terrible habit of talking out of one side of his mouth when he puts on an American accent. (Thank you oh so helpful friend - you know who you are!)

Unfortunately she's right and for the entire film I found myself comparing his mouth to that of Pacman, only facing towards me and with a permanent 5 o'clock shadow.

This Popeye impersonation would, possibly, have been tolerable if the accent had stuck. When the pronunciation war began to go the way of the Scottish however, all was lost.

In order to balance out my Y chromosome ("you men just don't understand") I was there with two female friends. For more charitable and willing to forgive than myself - they enjoyed the film, but also wouldn't recommend it to friends.

There were a couple of times when I thought the film might stray towards the smutty, but they managed to stay well clear so credit where credit is due.

The single saving grace of this film comes in the form (the near-perfect form) of 'hunky other boy' Eric Winter. In many places on the planet, it must surely be illegal to be so good looking. Up until this moment in time I have refused to believe that such people exist. The competition Mr Winter offers and the standards he set bode very badly for all men. Though... if that is the ugly truth referred to in the title, I for one am happy to keep looking at it!

__________

1 Star