Some movie characters just too ‘Ugly’ to watch
‘The Ugly Truth’ starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler
I’ve decided I need to stop watching movies just because they
feature good-looking actors from the British Isles. This criterion
has led me astray twice in recent weeks.
If a movie includes Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Gerard Butler,
Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Gabriel Byrne, among others, I usually
can’t wait to see it.
Some movie characters just too ‘Ugly’ to watch
‘The Ugly Truth’ starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler
I’ve decided I need to stop watching movies just because they feature good-looking actors from the British Isles. This criterion has led me astray twice in recent weeks.
If a movie includes Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Gerard Butler, Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Gabriel Byrne, among others, I usually can’t wait to see it.
All of these actors have had good turns in many films, including Neeson and Firth, who both starred in one of my favorite romantic comedies, “Love Actually.” But they have all had really, really bad turns in movies as well – like Neeson’s “Gun Shy” or Byrne’s “Ghost Ship.”
The Ugly Truth
This weekend I went to see “The Ugly Truth, which stars Scottish-born Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame. From the trailers, the movie looked to be a predictable – but funny – romantic comedy.
The movie turned out to be predictable, alright, but some of the humor was in poorer taste than the last Judd Apatow movie I saw. The funniest moments were all those shown in the previews, and most of the rest of the jokes fell flat. The screenwriters Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith seemed to have their genres mixed up.
In the movie, Heigl plays Abby, a morning television show producer who is smart, independent and completely clear on what she wants in a relationship – if only she could find the right man. Her station manager throws her work world and her personal life for a loop when he hires Mike (Butler). Mike is a low-brow entertainer who has a cable access show called “The Ugly Truth,” in which he uses crass humor to make the point that men are easy to understand – they just want skinny, beautiful women who will do whatever they want in a relationship. Mike’s first week on the job includes girls wrestling in Jell-o and footage of Bonobo monkeys getting frisky.
Though Abby hates Mike, she decides to take his advice on how to win over her new neighbor Colin, who meets nine of her 10 criteria for a man. Mike’s tips include playing hard to get, wearing sexy clothes, and letting Colin make all the decisions. Basically, Abby curbs all her natural instincts to be with her perfect idea of a guy. In the meantime, she slowly learns things about Mike that make him more attractive.
The problem with the movie is that it just really isn’t funny. Mike’s crass jokes fall flat and it is even more awkward when Abby makes an attempt at off-color humor. The movie is predictable, but the chemistry between Butler and Heigl never quite builds enough to make it believable that they are falling for each other.
Taken
The second really bad movie I watched recently was “Taken,” which made its way to the top of the Netflix queue a couple weeks ago. The movie stars Neeson – who is actually from the same town in Northern Ireland as an Irish guy I knew while studying abroad. They have the same accent, so maybe that’s why I can’t resist a Neeson movie.
“Taken,” unfortunately starts off on the wrong foot early, and takes missteps often. The first big issue with the film is that Bryan Mills (Neeson) is an American ex-military man, though he has an inexplicable Irish accent. Maybe it was part of his cover for all the years he lived apart from his family, and he just forgot to drop the accent. In the movie, Mills has moved to Los Angeles to make up for lost time with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace.)
When Kim wants to go to Europe for the summer, Bryan is against it, but he relents after his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) puts pressure on him. She tells him his former job has made him paranoid and there is nothing wrong with two 17-year-olds traveling alone to Paris. It is an argument I doubt most parents of teens would make. Bryan is even more reluctant about the trip when he discovers his daughter will be traveling around the continent to follow a rock band’s tour. Again, mom says all the teens are doing it. The band they will be following is U2, and at $150 a pop for some tickets (I know, since I have tickets for a fall concert,) I doubt many teens would spend the summer that way.
The travel to Europe is all just a weak premise to get Kim and her best friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) alone in Paris where they can be abducted in a most implausible scheme. Luckily for them, Bryan is a one-man militia who knows he needs to find his daughter within 48 hours if he is going to get her back safe.
The rest of the movie is mostly high-speed car chases and shoot-outs as Bryan fights an Eastern European gang known for taking girls for the sex trade. The script is so bad, the actors didn’t really stand a chance. This movie, too, is predictable and not really worth the time.
Movies Under the Stars
August 6: E.T. – the Extra-terrestrial, G
In this 1982 classic directed by Steven Spielberg, three children (Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton and a very young Drew Barrymore) of a single mom bond together when the middle son, Elliott (Thomas), finds an extraterrestrial living in their shed. E.T. is a gentle alien who just wants to find a way to get back home.
August 13: Over the Hedge, PG
RJ (Bruce Willis) is a raccoon who wants things the easy way. He persuades a group of forest friends that they can find food by scavenging from humans rather than by hunting and gathering in the woods. Voices by Garry Shandling, Steve Carell and Wanda Sykes.
August 20: Twilight, PG-13
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is an ordinary teenager when she finds herself in an extraordinary relationship after moving to a sleepy Washington town with her father. She finds herself attracted to the gorgeous Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), but there is something about him that isn’t quite right – he’s a vampire.
Volunteers are needed to help with upcoming Thursday night ‘Movies Under the Stars.’ For more information, or to volunteer, call Jeana Arnold at 636-8406.
