‘The Ugly Truth’ - a spicy romcom that truly entertains(IANS Film Review; Rating: ***)

Film: “The Ugly Truth”; Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Eric Winter

Director: Robert Luketic; Rating: ***

She is a hotshot TV producer who doesn’t hate men but it’s just that she wants them to be perfect. No wonder she has a checklist to assess whether the man she is on a date is actually compatible with her or not.

He is a rugged, free-talking anchor who doesn’t love women. It’s just that he believes they think all men have on their mind is the four letter word which begins with the letter ‘F’. No wonder, he is a walking-talking ‘love guru’ who hosts the TV show “The Ugly Truth”. In his own way, he is willing to get that moment of truth from the callers who get in touch with him live.

But no, “The Ugly Truth” is not about the endless date attempts of Katherine Heigl or the heavy dose of “gyaan” that Gerard Butler gives through his talks. Instead, it is one breezy, smooth-flowing romcom that Hollywood offers at least a dozen a year and still continues to find an audience.

The stage is set in the initial 15 minutes of the film itself when both the protagonists are introduced. Around them there are quintessential peripheral characters like a channel boss who is just interested in TRPs even if the show has ample foul language, a sidekick who keeps giving those “oohs” and “aahs” whenever she finds herself in the company of desirable bachelors and a show host couple who end up rediscovering “lust”.

But this is not all as the third angle is introduced in “The Ugly Truth” in the form of Eric Winter, who actually plays one of the most important ingredients in this spicy story.

Eric is everything that Katherine always wanted. A dream lover with those eight pack abs, a handsome face, an honourable profession, is soft spoken, is still a little unsure about uncorking a champagne bottle, knows how to treat a woman and above all, is truly adjusting.

All he wishes though is that his partner is not a control freak and this exactly is the area that Gerard coaches Katherine once he joins as an anchor in her TV show. The rules of the game follow.

The film is full of dirty jokes around fake orgasms, vibrating undergarments, self help and threesomes. But all these sequences have a “laugh out loud” moment to them.

It is these urban and cheekily naughty incidents that ensure that “The Ugly Truth” has in it to be the Hollywood entertainer of the season. So what if it follows a predictable path with the rugged-yet-charming Gerard falling for confident-yet-cute Katherine, who eventually throws away her false wig and is willing to take a hot balloon ride with him.

This is one helluva ride where they take the audiences along.