With Butler in leading role, ‘The Truth' is ugly indeed

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Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) and Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) get cozy in "The Ugly Truth." E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

In this month's issue of Esquire magazine, writer Cal Fussman portrays Gerard Butler as a pretty great guy, a rascal who left behind a law career in his native Scotland to see America and drink himself silly. It's a typical movie star profile, but there's a hook: Before the writer arrives at the actor's doorstep for the interview, he has no idea who Gerard Butler is. Fussman is not alone.

To many American moviegoers who actually know his face, Butler is still King Leonidas, the chiseled warrior from the 2006 Ancient Greece war epic "300." If he keeps making movies like "The Ugly Truth," it probably will stay that way.

Physically, he resembles Mel Gibson in his 1980s, pre-racial slur mulletastic heyday. But while Gibson knew how to deliver a punch line, Butler telegraphs every gag like a hack standup comic at amateur night. It doesn't help that the material is straight-up, by-the-numbers awful. Butler plays Mike Chadway, the chauvinist host of a crude, late night call-in cable access show that encourages men to place lust over love and women to play along. When a Sacramento morning show produced by control freak Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) begins to plummet, the station manager hires Chadway to add spice. The segment, called "The Ugly Truth," drums up interest in the show. Heigl, who famously threw "Grey's Anatomy" writers under the bus for not supplying her with Emmy-worthy material, might be getting a mean dose of karma. She hinted at her blockbuster potential in "Knocked Up," then hit a bump with "27 Dresses." In "The Ugly Truth," she receives a character who's part Jane Craig from "Broadcast News" and part Liz Lemon from TV's "30 Rock." It sounds good on paper, but the result is remarkably bland. Aside from a predictable but funny scene involving a pair of panties with, ahem, stimulating powers, there's not much to make the audience care.

The movie more than earns its R rating, and that's a problem. The only bright spot is the show's husband-wife hosts, played by John Michael Higgins ("A Mighty Wind") and Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). Their once-cold relationship, made scorching hot with Chadway's advice, provides a nice vacation from the actual plot.

The Ugly Truth

Romantic Comedy. Rated: R. Length: 101 minutes. Director: Robert Luketic. Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Eric Winter, John Michael Higgins.