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The Ugly Truth
Metascore
28 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 31
  3. Negative: 17 out of 31
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  1. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ruth McCann
    70
    Pleasingly glossy, refreshingly snarky and startlingly sexy.
  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    63
    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.
  3. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    60
    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.
  4. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    60
    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.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    58
    The Ugly Truth isn't fizzy and fun -- it's vacuously snappy.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Stephen Farber
    50
    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.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    The comedy bogs down in relentless predictability and the puzzling overuse of naughty words.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Amy Biancolli
    50
    Funny though it is - is it could have been a whole lot funnier.
  9. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Alaina O'Connor
    50
    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.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    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.
  11. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    50
    It feels like a desperate attempt at edginess -- and desperation is never becoming, whether in real-life romance or in a romantic comedy.
  12. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    50
    Mired in phoniness up to its neck. And above that, there's nothing.
  13. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    50
    A highly calculated attempt to recalibrate with raunch the family entertainment template and cash in.
  14. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen O'Hara
    40
    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 .
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    38
    Feels about 150 years out of date.
  16. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    38
    Screenwriters Nicole Eastman and the "Blonde" team of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith provide dialogue that has the propriety of the locker room.
  17. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    38
    But The Ugly Truth can't escape its own ugly truth, that the central characters are written to extremes both ludicrous and tiring.
  18. NPR
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    35
    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.
  19. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Cliff Doerksen
    30
    Director Robert Luketic telegraphs every dismal comic beat from Venus and Mars, then reinforces them with a twinkling, leering score.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    25
    Despite its appealing stars, The Ugly Truth is a charmless romantic comedy.
  21. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    25
    Veers between crude and cloying.
  22. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    25
    The sort of rom-com apparatus that no relationship can overcome.
  23. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    20
    A movie without a moment of truth to be found.
  24. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    20
    Taken as a whole, The Ugly Truth is much like its orgasms: phony and unsatisfying.
  25. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    20
    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.
  26. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    20
    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.
  27. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joanne Kaufman
    20
    If the movie had even a moment of freshness or wit, one honest laugh. It doesn't--and that's the ugly truth.
  28. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    12
    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."
  29. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    10
    Until that final, inevitable kiss, we have to listen to them, and the clatter of their crude, brainless exchanges is unbearable.
  30. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    0
    The Ugly Truth is insulting to women, men and even goldfish.
  31. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    0
    This is the sort of comedy that requires you not only to suspend disbelief, but your sanity as well.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 98 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 45
  3. Negative: 22 out of 45
  1. killdarren
    0
    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!… Full Review »
  2. TargetF209
    5
    Your average romantic comedy. Butler and Heigl have fun with the roles but nothing else in this film tries to impress or entertain above the average level. Standard.… Full Review »
  3. RayC.
    10
    It was hilarious. And true.
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