The Ugly Proposal
July 25, 2009 § 1 Comment
On this rainy night, I went to see The Ugly Truth against my will — well, I agreed to see it only because I didn’t have to pay for my ticket. Many movies at least somewhat intrigue me, but I had literally 0% desire to see this one. I despise romantic comedies, and I only watch them if they feature actors or actresses that I really like, which is why I actually wanted to watch The Proposal [I love Sandra Bullock, and Ryan Reynolds has a smoking hot body].
I am relatively neutral about Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, but I knew from watching the trailer that I would not like a movie about an abnormally high-strung woman who pathetically can’t get a man and has to resort to following the advice of a crass maybe-misogynist, and somehow they end up falling in love. Aww, how predictably predictable.
The Ugly Truth is similar to The Propsal in some ways. I don’t know what is is about successful women that makes screenwriters want to portray them as such desperate and lonely individuals. Bullock plays an editor at a publishing company, while Heigl plays a television news producer. Both are uptight, unable to function properly in a relationship, haven’t been laid in a looong time [11 months, ohmygosh], and only manage to end up in a relationship when they resort to desperate measures.
What annoys me the most about this movie was how embarrassingly desperate Heigl’s character is. I know the scene in the beginning with her on that date with that man is supposed to be funny, but really? It is so unbelievable that anybody could act like that; some characters are charmingly ignorant about relationships, but Heigl was unbearable. Her little celebration dance and reliance on Butler’s character [among other things] made me sad because of what they represent.
The second most irritating thing about The Ugly Truth is its predictability. Although the characters might be somewhat original, the formula is not, which is one of the reasons I barely laughed at all during this film. The scene in the restaurant with the underwear incited much laughter from the audience, but they were cheap laughs.
I did find myself caving in a little to the emotional porn. It was difficult not to imagine the guy I like in the driver’s seat as we drive along the scenic hills of San Francisco, and I hated myself for it. In the end, there were some valid bits of relationship advice that could be gleaned from this movie:
1. Don’t be in a relationship if you can’t be yourself.
2. Confessing love is terrifying.
3. I’m not exactly sure how to phrase this the way I want it, but here goes: it is important for a man to proclaim his feelings for a woman, otherwise she will never know whether he is actually committed.
auradis 
For some people, learning those three lessons can take a lifetime, At least, with this movie, it only takes a couple hours