The Ugly Truth

With Knocked Up and 27 Dresses under her belt, Katherine Heigl is fast proving herself most likely to unseat Sandra Bullock from her romcom throne.

Here she teams up with Gerard Butler, who is making a decent stab at balancing bloke movies (300, RocknRolla) with girly flicks (Nim’s Island , P.S. I Love You). 

Heigl is daytime TV producer Abby, whose show’s ratings are as bad as her dating record. 

Into her personal and professional life struts Butler’s Mike, a public access channel shock-jock.  His show, The Ugly Truth, is a forum for his vulgar views on the war of the sexes, and Mike is seen by Abby’s bosses as a way to boost ratings.

Audiences flock to hear his outspoken opinions – men are shallow and like ladies who follow the three Ls, lingerie, lipstick and lights-out – and witness his predilection for rolling around with bikini clad hotties in jelly pools live on air. 

He’s also acting as a gutter-minded Cyrano de Bergerac for the uptight Abby, teaching her how to sex it up and nab Colin, the cute doctor next door (Winter). 

But, while Mike gets under Abby’s skin, she’s making him hot under the collar, and the sexual caveman is soon experiencing new, unusual feelings not just based on ogling her body. 

Legally Blonde director Luketic keeps the film light and frothy, and the script (penned by three women) isn’t afraid to flavour the romance with a little raunch: Heigl fans will enjoy the dinner scene when she finds herself schmoozing TV bigwigs while wearing a pair of vibrating knickers.

Ladies will thank Butler for flashing his torso on at least three occasions, and appreciate the effort gone into Katherine’s wardrobe and hair. 

The sparks that fly when the two stars take to the dancefloor for some randy rumba suggest a re-pairing would not be a bad thing.  And that’s the not-so-ugly truth.