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Ugly Truth, The
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 63 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Romance
Written by:
Nicole Eastman (& story)
Kirsten Smith
Karen McCullah Lutz
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 24, 2009
DVD: November 10, 2009
Running Time: minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for sexual content and language
Starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Eric Winter, John Michael Higgins, Nick Searcy, Kevin Connolly, and Cheryl Hines
The battle of the sexes heats up in Columbia Pictures’ comedy The Ugly Truth. Abby Richter is a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She's in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Mike Chadway, a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. (Sony Pictures)
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Ruth McCann
Pleasingly glossy, refreshingly snarky and startlingly sexy.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The only thing that differentiates it from far too many other uninspired rom-coms is that some of the material is funny and there is an occasional edge to the repartee. Beyond that, however, it's a cookie-cutter movie, and the cookies are pretty stale.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
The Ugly Truth is an arch, contrived, entirely predictable romantic comedy assembled with sufficient audience-friendly elements to put it over as both a good girls' night attraction and a date-night lure raunchy enough to leave couples in the right mood afterward.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Chuck Wilson
Heigl and Butler have genuine chemistry, and the writers have given the duo some bitchy, snappy dialogue. They probably had in mind such workplace comedies as "Desk Set," starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, but in this day and age, witty banter and stars with chemistry aren't enough to catch an audience's attention.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Ugly Truth isn't fizzy and fun -- it's vacuously snappy.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The comedy bogs down in relentless predictability and the puzzling overuse of naughty words.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The movie has embarrassingly limited ideas about both the sexes and sex. Like Sandra Bullock’s career woman in “The Proposal,’’ Abby appears to have never heard of intercourse, much less experienced it.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber
A romantic comedy depends, of course, on the chemistry between the leads, and here the film is more successful. Both Heigl and Butler find the appeal in very flawed characters.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli
Funny though it is - is it could have been a whole lot funnier.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Alaina O'Connor
At the end of the day, people who want to see this movie aren't looking for something original. There's a certain familiarity that makes the romantic comedy a perennial favorite among audiences.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
It feels like a desperate attempt at edginess -- and desperation is never becoming, whether in real-life romance or in a romantic comedy.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
A highly calculated attempt to recalibrate with raunch the family entertainment template and cash in.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
Mired in phoniness up to its neck. And above that, there's nothing.
Read Full Review >Empire Helen O'Hara
It's not as risqué as it wishes it were, nor as likable as it should be. Butler's rarely been better-cast, but the material's too patchy to support him .
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
But The Ugly Truth can't escape its own ugly truth, that the central characters are written to extremes both ludicrous and tiring.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Screenwriters Nicole Eastman and the "Blonde" team of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith provide dialogue that has the propriety of the locker room.
Read Full Review >NPR Ella Taylor
The Ugly Truth serves up yet another tightly wound career woman, ripe for chopping up, tenderizing and ravishing by an alpha male who knows what's good for her.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen
Director Robert Luketic telegraphs every dismal comic beat from Venus and Mars, then reinforces them with a twinkling, leering score.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The sort of rom-com apparatus that no relationship can overcome.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Despite its appealing stars, The Ugly Truth is a charmless romantic comedy.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
A cynical, clumsy, aptly titled attempt to cross the female-oriented romantic comedy with the male-oriented gross-out comedy that is interesting on several levels, none having to do with cinema.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
In its wan attempt to be raunchy, the picture fails where Judd Apatow has usually succeeded; written by three women, this is a girl's mistaken idea of an R-rated comedy.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Taken as a whole, The Ugly Truth is much like its orgasms: phony and unsatisfying.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A movie without a moment of truth to be found.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
If the movie had even a moment of freshness or wit, one honest laugh. It doesn't--and that's the ugly truth.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Toss this ugly-ass crap to the curb, along with the other multiplex garbage, and see a romance that gets it right. I'm talking "(500) Days of Summer."
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Until that final, inevitable kiss, we have to listen to them, and the clatter of their crude, brainless exchanges is unbearable.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The Ugly Truth is insulting to women, men and even goldfish.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
This is the sort of comedy that requires you not only to suspend disbelief, but your sanity as well.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 63 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Herbert W. gave it a0:
For the average person capable of grasping the concept of a meta-critic website - this movie is an insult! The amount of actual thinking (or lack thereof) invested in this piece of !@/&%! was shocking! HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK MOVIEGOERS ARE?
Mary W gave it a0:
If you saw the trailers then you saw the only good parts- the rest was horrible!!
Sylvia V gave it a7:
I really wasn't expecting much of this movie as I had seen the unflattering score it garnered on this page...but having low expectations almost always guarantees a pleasant surprise! I didn't find it misogynist, crass, rude, offensive or any other of the epithets bandied about...only genuinely funny at parts, which is more than I can say for critically acclaimed comedies like The Hangover, a film that barely got a smile out of me. Sure, it's formulaic and predictable, but then again, I don't decide to watch a rom com when I'm in the mood for something deep and innovative...I just expect some silly fun and a few laughs, and I got them with this film.
Jeremy C. gave it a9:
All of you people are crazy!! I laughed from beginning to end, as did my girlfriend, as did the entire theater. There was nothing misogynistic about this, it was damned truthful, and anyone that can't handle that has either deluded themselves, is an oversensitive woman, or a damned effeminate man.
Steve H gave it a2:
This is an updated Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie except this is 2009 not 1959. Gee, do you think you can guess the ending?
killdarren gave it a0:
Like OMG, I loved this move when it was called, 27 Dresses, Knocked Up, 50 First Dates, The Proposal, My Life in Ruins, The Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past, Duplicity, My Best Friend's Girl, What Happens in Vegas, No Reservations, Music and Lyrics, The Holiday, Failure to Launch, Must Love Dogs, The Wedding Date...Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I wish!
inna c. gave it a0:
The only thought it leaves is:"how could i have spent a tenner to watch such rubbish! vulgar, tasteless and with no proper story line. save your time, watch something else.
