***spoiled as milk***
Today, while cleaning my house I carried around my laptop and watched the chick flick The Ugly Truth. This movie stars Katherine Heigl as the uptight, frigid Abby who works as a producer for a local TV show. Gerard Butler plays Mike, the offensive, misogynistic, man who has a piece on her show where he describes how women need to be conquered, not completely different than Tom Cruise's role in Magnolia. His role in the movie is to coach Abby through meeting a guy and telling her what men really want and getting her the man of her dreams, Collin. Within 30 seconds, it was easy to guess the ending... she would hate Mike, but eventually they would fall in love, and the original love interest would become less attractive. I was not wrong.
This movie is offensive to men and women alike. It's obviously offensive to women, telling them how they need to become a certain way to please a man. There is no such thing as love only lust. They are only there for sex; no one cares what they have to say. Men, on the other hand, are portrayed as tough, completely sexual beings, who only find love once their tough exterior is broken through. That is our job as women, ladies. We have to find men, regardless of what we like in a man, we need to woo him. The entire first half is about how a woman needs to find out what a man likes, and it is never asked what she would want. Considering Abby is supposed to hate these ideas, you would think she might bring this up, instead of buying into the argument of what men want.
I can appreciate the fact that the Abby realizes she doesn't want her main love interest, Collin, because he only knows the Abby which she has shown him. This girl being a creation of Mike's advice. Mike plays a warped version of some sort of Cyrano De Bergerac, feeding lines to Abby through an earpiece. Mike, in turn, finds out that he loves her as she is. But let's get real... it's complete bullshit that we have to play these mind games to find the one that we want. I don't even understand why women enjoy this stuff. It's not funny, it's not idealistic, nor is it realistic. The "Funniest" scene of the movie occurs when Abby wears vibrating underpants with a remote control given to her by Mike. There is no reason that she would wear these out to a corporate dinner, even if it WAS supposed to be a date originally. It was so contrived, I couldn't stand it.
Shame on Katherine Heigl for making this movie. She has complained about the lack of good writing on Gray's Anatomy, which is completely valid. Although, I am a Judd Apatow fan, I agreed with her complaints of the movie Knocked Up. She said that the movie was sexist. That it “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as goofy, fun-loving guys.” Women are often portrayed this way, and it's very frustrating. WTF, was she thinking taking THIS role, which showed her as more uptight than ever, it certainly wasn't funny, and it wasn't good writing. She just seems to keep finding herself in these situations she hates. Maybe she just doesn't get offered any good roles, and that's why she has to take them. If she's actually a feminist who believes in good writing, then she's an ignorant hypocrite for accepting a role in this trite bullshit.
**side note*** Allan has informed me that this review is not funny enough. I apologize to you, my audience, it's hard to laugh or smile after watching a "comedy" such as The Ugly Truth. This movie sucked all the humor out of my body, and left it filled with nothing but anger, spite, (and maybe a little gas).
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