Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 7, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
If “The Ugly Truth” had an actual mouth, my mother would wash it out with soap. Here’s a film that revels in filthy, smutty, rude language. Within the first few minutes, I breathed a sigh of relief that I’d decided to see the movie BEFORE I picked up my 17-year-old daughter for our summer visit. If candid sexual talk isn’t your thing, then you should avoid seeing “The Ugly Truth.” You’ll miss one of the best romantic comedies of the year, though.
For all its lewd chatter, “The Ugly Truth” is one of the least offensive R-rated movies I’ve seen in recent memory. Unlike “The Hangover” or “Observe and Report,” it doesn’t throw smut at the screen simply to be shocking or to entertain snickering adolescents in adult bodies; rather, the makers of “The Ugly Truth” cleverly use coarse dialog to develop characters and tell a story. What a novel idea.
OK, one overly manufactured scene involving the use of a battery operated device aims low, but it’s so out of step with the rest of the movie, it feels like the creators of “The Ugly Truth” were throwing a bone to the National Lampoon crowd.
Gerard Butler is Mike, host of a sleazeball cable access show in which he eviscerates female callers with chauvinistic rants. Although there’s no arguing with him, Abby, a career-centered television producer played by Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy”), tries anyway after her cat accidentally tunes in to his show. She is, of course, out of her league.
As fate would have it, Abby’s news show is in dire need of a ratings boost, and when she arrives at work the next morning, she learns her boss has hired Mike to do segments on her program. After getting off to a rocky start, Mike and Abby strike a deal in which he agrees to help her woo a handsome doctor in exchange for being able to say what he wants on her show. The writers cleverly use Mike’s way with words to emphasize the differences between him and Abby, and then to reveal their similarities once the facades fall.
While “The Ugly Truth” never deviates from the traditional formula for romantic comedies (“They can’t stand each other!” “Now they’re falling love!” “Now they’re mad at each other!”), each turn in the story arises out of smartly written dialog rather than contrived circumstances. Plus, there are a lot of laughs, good performances by Butler and Heigl and a lesson about the importance of listening between the lines.
I also like what Mike says when Abby asks him why he loves her. I wonder if his response would work in real life? I’d better not try it, though; my wife would wash out my mouth with soap!
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I have to hand it to the creators of “The Orphan”: they know how to hold your interest. There’s a scene late in the film in which the villain, Esther, picks up a screwdriver. By that point, I did not want to see how she was going to use it.
That’s because I wanted her adopted family, including her mom, dad, brother and sister, to live. Kate and John had had good intentions when they went to the orphanage to adopt a child. And they’d done their best to make Esther a part of the family. But things hadn’t gone well.
First, there was the accident involving a classmate that poked fun at Esther. Then there was the nun from the orphanage that disappeared after checking in on the family. And then Kate and John’s biological daughter was almost killed when their SUV rolled backwards toward a busy road, with the girl strapped into a child’s seat.
What Esther did with the screwdriver made me cringe. But it wasn’t the only disturbing thing I saw on the backs of my eyelids when I tried to sleep that night. There are some
tremendously shocking images in “The Orphan,” the kind that would make you want to pass on meeting the person who came up with them.
The imagery offers insight into Esther’s twisted mind, though, and is wrapped up in a movie packed with tension, well-executed set pieces, good writing, great acting, taut direction and a villain I won’t forget.
The first part of “The Orphan” falters in places, as director Jaume Collet-Serra throws too many false scares at the audience and overplays a scene in a playground, but in the end, he delivers. Like most thrillers, his material is trashy, but he makes it work. And unlike most thrillers, I didn’t see the twist at the end coming.
You need to know, however, that “The Orphan” is not for kids. It’s rated for R several reasons, none of which anyone under the age of 17 should experience. Even 17 is pushing it. I know that because I picked up my daughter BEFORE seeing “The Orphan.”
E-mail David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.
com.
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