Small Munch...or perhaps a rant: The Ugly Truth

First of all, let me say that I love a good romantic comedy. There is something so pleasing about watching good looking people on screen argue or have something between them that can't be fixed immediately and then have them kiss at the end of a film, making the perfect couple. The predictability is so satisfying.

That being said, this was an awful romantic comedy.

This does not mean that I can skimp on writing something about it- because something needs to be said about this film.

We are introduced to the lovely Katherine Hiegl as Abby, a successful, attractive perfectionist that produces a morning news show. Of course her life is not complete because she does not have a handsome man in it. When ratings start to fall on the show, her boss decides to bring on a new segment, "The Ugly Truth", and its commentator, Mike (played by Gerard Butler). Apparently Mike knows everything about men and women and their relationships, and rants about their problems on his own show, all while not having a relationship of his own, of course. And Mike and Abby hate each other until...

The challenge: Mike will prove that he knows what he is talking about by setting up Abby with the guy of her dreams. I'm sorry to give away the ending, but as you could probably guess, Mike and Abby end up falling in love. This doens't annoy me so much, I like the good looking people falling for each other, remember? It's just that Abby begins as this character that stands for something, I don't really know what she stands for, but she at least has an opinion about Mike's sexist view of women. That is until Mike tells her to wear tight clothing "because men are visual creatures," to get extensions in her hair because no man likes short hair, to masturbate and to lie. To top it all off, she does all this and gets slapped in the ass by Mike multiple times just for fun. She will do anything to get her man.

Great, this is just great.

The realization is supposed to hit her when she removes her extensions before she is about to sleep with the guy that she thought that she wanted. But it's not that she realized that she doesn't need to change herself to get a guy, she does this because she loves someone else. I'm so glad she came to her senses (that's sarcasm, if you want a relationship I don't think you are supposed to do that either).

So Mike and Abby end up in love and you are not really sure why. In fact, you are never sure if they really know each other at all. I like romantic comedies, I always will, but it's films like this that make me wonder about how far the romantic comedy has really come. True to form, there was a predictable kiss at the end of the film but the reassuring satisfaction never followed.