Romantic Movie Review – Make A Date For The Ugly Truth?

I wanted to like The Ugly Truth, a film comedy about romance in a local TV station, starring Katherine Heigl as a single Producer who gets dating advice from a loutish relationship reporter played by Gerard Butler. As a former Chicago TV producer and a single-again woman who writes about dating and relationships, I wanted to gain some cinematic insights into the professional and personal challenges we face in local television production and in today’s dating world.

Unfortunately, the three women screenwriters don’t seem to care how real men and women communicate about love and relationships at work or in their dating life. Their screenplay portrays charmless caricatures of TV producers, on-camera talent and single men and women. The film’s director, Robert Luketic, had shown his gift for romantic comedy while at the helm of Legally Blonde. In The Ugly Truth, Luketic shunned soul and subtlety in his direction of this talented cast of actors, who mugged and overacted throughout the entire film.

One sophomoric sequence made the audience groan or laugh, when a young boy unwittingly found and activated the remote for vibrating panties worn by Katherine Heigl as Producer Abby Richter during dinner with TV execs. Her writing pleasure livened up the dinner conversation with the “suits”, while it also made the audience further lose respect for the roguish reporter who could’ve grabbed the remote and preserved his producer’s dignity. Soulful motivation and behavior is sorely lacking in the entire collection of film characters.

Want to know the dating advice that relationship reporter (Gerard Butler) gives his producer (Katherine Heigl) in a private tutorial?

Women should never criticize or try to control men.
Women should always laugh at a man’s jokes even if they’re not funny.
Women should not dress for comfort and efficiency; they should only wear push-up bras and seductive outfits on a date.
Women should never talk about their problems on dates, since that interferes with a man’s fantasies about sex.
Women should pretend to be the woman a man wants her to be in order to fool him into a relationship.

If you like those dating strategies, you won’t like my articles, podcast show or my novel with songs about the adventures in dating after divorce. I’ve gone on a couple hundred blind dates after my long marriage ended in divorce, and I’ve never met a single adult male with the shameless seduction techniques and attitudes presented in this film. This cinematic search for love isn’t based on reality as I’ve experienced it, and it fails to elevate the raunchy battle of the sexes into a witty farce.

Since like attracts like, the film goers who like The Ugly Truth may be attracted to childish fantasies of the way men and women interact in their search for a love match and in their professional and personal relationships. They may go to romance movies without expecting to gain any wisdom or understanding of human relationships, so they are satisfied by watching sexy, cartoonish characters doing goofy things for cheap laughs. It was the number 3 grossing film its opening weekend, so the producers must be pleased millions of us made a date to see their summer fare.

The Ugly Truth reveals one meaningful insight to improve your romantic relationship. When you stop pretending to be someone your date wants you to be and simply be your best you, revealing quirks and strengths, you are free to make a soulful, authentic connection with a potential love match.

Because of the actors valiant efforts to transcend silly stereotypes set forth in the script, I’ve awarded 2 out of 5 chili peppers to The Ugly Truth. This Columbia Pictures Release earned an MPAA rating of “R” for sexual content.

If you’re single and seeking your special love match, I invite you to meet savvy singles in video chats, book discussions and travel vacations in the Singles Club of Tribe Of Blondes. Not a hair color, it’s a resilient optimism that unites us and fuels our passionate choices and personal triumphs. Claim your free, 30-day trial membership when you click on SINGLES CLUB at the top of this page. Enjoy!

Dedicated to your dating and relationship happiness,

Hadley Finch