On DVD: 'The Ugly Truth'

'The Ugly Truth' (R) *1/2

Writers: Nicole Eastman, Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz
Director: Robert Luketic
Starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Cheryl Hines, John Michael Higgins, Eric Winter, Bree Turner, Nick Searcy

If people really acted and talked like the characters do in "The Ugly Truth" we would be living in sitcom land. This is a phony romantic comedy where I laughed maybe two times and then stared at the wall the rest of the time. This was torture to sit through and I really am not getting Katherine Heigel. She was good in "Knocked Up" but that was a great movie. This is crap and her acting is so hammy and annoying in this that I wanted to scratch my eyes out. I have seen her act well a few times in the boring and dumb "Grey's Anatomy" so I don't know what the director is telling her here though the director made "Legally Blonde" and that was good so. The blame has to go to the writing and it is stuff like this that I am shocked gets green lit in Hollywood. It is basically the man and woman who hate each other at first then grow to love each other crap and you know the ending after a half hour. It is set in the television industry as Gerard Butler plays a vulgar show host who tells the ugly truth about how men and women think. If this was a real segment on a news show it wouldn't make it a week it is so amateurish and bad. Gerard Butler is actually good here dealing with a badly written role because I find him charming but other actors like the great Cheryl Hines come off boring and the other love interest played by Eric Winter is good looking but dull and should be on "Grey's Anatomy" What I find funny is Katherine Heigl bad mouthed her only decent movie "Knocked Up" because she found it sexist. Everyone has an opinion but after seeing her in this what a hypocrite she is because this is doubly sexist and doesn't know anything about real men and women and their relationships. One thing though Roger Ebert was shocked by the foul language in the film and that it was written by women. That is not why this is bad because a woman wrote "Slapshot" and that was vulgar personified! This movie is bad because it is shocking that three women have written a woman character that is such a weak and shallow character. If I knew a woman like that in real life I would put a restraining order on her.