The Ugly Truth

"One of the lessons of “The Ugly Truth” — beyond the obvious one that a desirable, desiring woman can never, ever, be happily single and sexual in modern Hollywood — is that holding to your hard-won ideals is of no consequence, at least when there’s a guy to be hooked. When Mike is brought in, Abby fights him because she sees him for what he is: the lowest common denominator. Eventually, though, she succumbs to his coarse ways, even adopting his crude language, because, well, that’s what the public wants." - NY Times Movie Review

"What a romantic comedy should be doing is showing what's attractive and limiting in two people, then bringing these plausible opposites together at the middle. Something is very wrong when the beast is instantly more appealing than the beauty and when a comedy becomes an essay in misogyny." - Time Movie Review

While watching the previews and trailer the first time around I thought, "hey this might cheer me up!" It looked funny and harmless, yet when I saw Gerard Butler on Comedy Central talking about women in bikinis jello-wrestling, I started to get a tad bit turned off. When I watched the trailer of The Ugly Truth again, many things came to mind all at once:

• Why does Katherine Heigl keep playing the same character movie after movie?
• Gerard Butler's character is an ass.
• What happened to the romantic comedy genre? Should I blame Judd Apatow?
• How come the modern woman can't be happy and single?
• Women need to stop compromising their values.
• I need to stop compromising my values.
• I can't believe the writers of this movie are 3 women.
• Am I being too indignant and self-righteous?
• Do men do this to themselves to hook women?
  

"Getting" the guy has always been an issue for me. Well, more like getting the guy to stay. Too often I've succumbed to what I believe Abby does by the end of the film. Taking a firm stance and keeping my feet planted on the ground is a crazy challenge because I convinced myself long ago that who I am now is not enough. After many trials and errors I am taking the advice I've given to many of my girlfriends: strong, independent women don't need to win the guy by giving in to what he believes you should be. This isn't to say all men are the "bad guys" but in my experience and in regards to my own shortcomings, I've been there. And frankly, it sucked.

I understand there's humor in laughing at gender stereotypes. I've also been accused of being a little too serious about things that shouldn't matter, but abasing a lead character, male or female, is not my cup of tea.

I don't know if I'll get around to watching this movie. Maybe as a rental?