The Ugly Truth
for sexual content and language.
Reviewed by: Misty Wagner
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Extremely Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
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| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Romance Comedy |
| Length: | 1 hr. 36 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2009 |
| USA Release: |
July 24, 2009 (wide—2,700 theaters) DVD: November 10, 2009 |
Lust in the Bible
What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer
Marriage in the Bible
Is formalized marriage becoming obsolete? Answer
Many people are convinced that traditional marriages don’t work and that this practice should be abandoned. What does the Bible say about marriage?
| Featuring | Gerard Butler, Katherine Heigl, Kevin Connolly, Bree Turner, Eric Winter, Nick Searcy, Jesse D. Goins, Cheryl Hines, John Michael Higgins, Noah Matthews, Bonnie Somerville, John Sloman, Yvette Nicole Brown, Nate Corddry, Allen Maldonado, Steve Little, Dan Callahan, Tess Parker, Arielle Vandenberg, Rocco DiSpirito, Valente Rodriguez, Jamison Yang, Blake Robbins, Austin Winsberg, Tom Virtue, Adam Harrington, J. Claude Deering, Alexis Krause, Craig Ferguson, Caleb De Oliveira, Jade Marx, Lenny Schmidt, Mimi Michaels, Donnie Smith, Kate Mulligan, Earl Carroll, Marc D. Wilson, Nathan Potter, Jeff Newburg, Ryan Surratt, Vicki Lewis, David Lowe, Yolanda Pecoraro, Brooke Stone, Stephanie Mace, Bob Morrisey |
| Director | Robert Luketic—“Legally Blonde,” “21,” “Monster-in-Law” |
| Producer | Lakeshore Entertainment, Relativity Media, Kimberly di Bonaventura, Andre Lamal, Gary Lucchesi, Deborah Jelin Newmyer, Eric Reid, Steven Reuther, Tom Rosenberg, Kirsten Smith |
| Distributor |
 Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures |
Abby (Katherine Heigl) is the producer of a tanking morning show in Sacramento. Realizing the desperation in the show’s situation, Abby considers putting her personal life on hold again in order to brainstorm for solutions. Her associate producer, and seemingly best friend Joy (Bree Turner) talks her out of canceling the evening’s blind date, which turns out horribly because of Abby’s controlling and anal tendencies…
Mike (Gerard Butler) has his own cable show entitled “The Ugly Truth.” Offering up his own perverse perspective on things ranging from women, to men and the relationship between them—Mike successfully manages to offend viewers and then take their calls—only to insult and belittle them more.
When Abby’s manager decides to offer Mike a position in an effort to boost ratings and essentially save their morning show, Abby finds herself stuck between her integrity and what’s necessary to preserve her job.
I am finding it really difficult to sum up, in a nutshell, how completely offensive this movie is. I don’t always refrain from seeing the more inappropriately humored films, and my tastes are not prudish in any way. To say that the sexual references, discussions and descriptions in this movie are constant would be an understatement. Vulgarity runs rampant, giving little regard to any other focus.
The offensiveness doesn’t end there, however. The very basic storyline of this film is so stereotypical and shallow. The scantily clad women are shown as brainless and willing to be treated like meat, while the career-driven women are shown to carry faux self respect beneath their controlling and self-focused exteriors. Men are painted in a hopeless light where there couldn’t possibly be any sincerity in their actions, as every single thing they think or do is ultimately a manipulation for sex. Love and marriage are painted only as self-serving decisions, with no other possibilities, to be avoided. Even when “love” does come around, it isn’t anything other than lust driven emotional attachment.
Personally, I find these ideas most offensive.
The very idea that love is something only existing as a part of a checklist for women, while men only care about satisfying their own lusts and desires is cliché and overly done. It’s nothing new. This time around the jokes are edgier, and the delivery is just a bit more crass, but it’s a story we’ve all seen before. It’s shallow, it’s one dimensional and it’s predictable. Most people don’t buy tickets to see films of the romantic comedy genre to find depth or conviction, but that doesn’t mean the audience wants to be treated like brainless numbers either.
None of this is to say that viewers won’t laugh during the film, because parts of this movie are indeed very fun. Comedy, yes. Romantic, no. There isn’t anything sweet or charming about any aspect of this story. It is not a good date film, a good chick flick, or a good movie at all, for that matter.
Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Heavy
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½
Men were portrayed as mindless cavemen who are unable to control themselves and their desires. Relationships were labeled as selfishly unfulfilling societal necessities. While parts of this movie were funny, I could not overlook the belittling of women.
The move quality was also very poor. Overlooking all profanity, sexual references, and brief nudity, the story line simply did not flow. The photography and scene order was stilted and jumbled. It was often difficult to find the importance of several scenes. The only positive comment that I can give this movie is that I liked the soundtrack. However, even the music did not fit the movie.
I was surprised at the choice for a movie from Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. They are both very talented actors and definitely far better than a movie as “The Ugly Truth.”
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 1½
The story line was a very familiar one as done by Doris Day, Goldie Hawn, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, and the like—boy and girl disgust each other only to eventually fall in love. But this movie came very close to porn with the sexual conversations. One comment by the male lead went something like, “every guy looks at you just thinking about sticking his ‘d…’ into every one of your orifices…” There were many other comments just as offensive. Katherine used the “f” word and “cock” numerous times.
I would like to send the message to Hollywood that couples can actually date and not immediately hop into bed together; and that people actually converse without using curse words and crude language AND that people of the opposite sex don’t always discuss their sexual performance with everyone! Do not go to see this movie. The only redeeming thing I can say about it is that in the end the characters realize it’s important to be the person you really are and not pretend to be somebody else.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2½
This movie used a trashy delivery of crummy ideas, thinking it would be funny. Well, it certainly was not funny to me, and long before this movie was over, we got up and walked out on it. The previews of this movie were not telling of its disgusting perverseness. Had I known the true content beforehand, I would have seen something else and really enjoyed the evening.
I find it difficult to believe that Katherine Heigl would make this kind of move. Further, I will now be avoiding movies, which feature Gerard Butler in leading roles. Don’t waste your time or good conscious on this movie. I spent nearly $20 for tickets and felt it a shame that refunds were not available, after all, it was almost like false advertising.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
I don’t mean to be ugly to Katherine Heigl, I love her in everything else that she has done, but I am worried about her moral integrity and apparent disregard for her fans opinion of subject content. The content, subject and language was very offensive to me. I do not consider myself to be a prude and I know this may seem radical to some but this should prove how offended my husband and I were. I will definitely do extensive investigation before seeing another of her movies.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4½
The movie shows how men who have a lust for women are really unhappy. Women who strive to attract the lust in men in order to find a mate see how fake they are feeling about themselves. When they realize they are in love with each other, just because they enjoy being together, they have found true love, rather than lust. I attended this movie at a major college campus, and I felt it encouraged forming relationships of companionship, rather than merely for lust. Women do not have to look sexually attractive in order to be worthwhile, as the movie demonstrated at the end. I feel this movie was excellent for young adults in the dating age, especially. It compared lustful, sexual relationships to natural, loving relationships. It was a way to encourage young adults to form relationships with others through friendship without attracting each other sexually.
Most youth have a great awareness of all the negative language and attitudes in the movie, so that would not be a surprise to most. This movie showed how much more meaning there is when those attitudes are disregarded and instead love is involved. I think it encourages monogamy and looking for wholesome relationships.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4