Two out of Five stars
Running time: 101 mins

Tedious, painfully unfunny romantic comedy that fails thanks to a smug, unnecessarily smutty script, a dreadful performance by Gerard Butler and a total lack of chemistry between its two leads.

What's it all about?
Directed by Robert Luketic, The Ugly Truth stars Katherine Heigl as Abby Richter, a breakfast TV producer whose dating technique is hampered by the fact that she's something of a control freak. When Abby's bosses hire boorish tell-it-like-it-is relationship expert Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) to spice up her show, she's horrified, but is forced to work with him when he turns out to be a ratings success.

When Abby meets cute doctor Colin (Eric Winter), she's determined not to screw things up and when Mike bets her that his dating advice can help her land her dream man, she accepts, particularly as he promises to quit the job if it all goes wrong, so it's win-win. And if you can't guess what happens after that, then you've clearly never seen a romantic comedy before.

The Good
Katherine Heigl is as cute and adorable here as she was in 27 Dresses (her little happy dance is the best thing in the film), but, although she ensures that the film remains watchable, it's not enough to save it. For one thing, there's zero chemistry between her and the utterly charmless Gerard Butler, who's even more punchable and annoying here than he was in P.S. I Love You (he is, admittedly, meant to be crass and offensive in the first half, but it's too much and you never really like him).

The Bad
The biggest problem is the script, which is unnecessarily smutty and badly misjudged in places (the vibrating pants scene is excruciating to watch and not in a good way). It's also desperately unfunny, insultingly simplistic (she's a desperate control freak who can't get a man, he's a been-hurt-in-the-past loudmouth whose boorishness masks a sensitive side) and utterly predictable, even within the already formulaic constraints of the romcom.

Worth seeing?
The ugly truth is that, despite Heigl's best efforts, this film is rubbish. Watch 27 Dresses again instead.