The only real reasons to endure this predictable and needlessly foul-mouthed, R-rated romantic comedy from director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) are stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler and the fact that it’s not set in New York City.
Heigl plays the smart but romantically-challenged producer of a morning TV show in Sacramento who responds not well to the idea of her boss (Nick Searcy) hiring Butler, the obscene host of the title local TV show who spews forth offensive and sexist relationship advice, to boost ratings.
The movie breezes along pleasantly for its first half hour or so as we meet Heigl and her various colleagues, including her show’s married co-hosts (John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines, who don’t get nearly enough to do), and watch Heigl, in the film’s funniest scene, present a list of talking points to a blind date (Kevin Connolly) on whom she’s run a background check.
But the fun diminishes after we meet Butler’s crude dude, a man who as part of his act preaches “lust, seduction and manipulation” and the idea that “men are simple.” Not only does everyone start spouting f-bombs, but Heigl, who initially loathes having to work with such an ape, suddenly starts taking the guy’s advice on how to snag a hunky doctor (Eric Winter).
The script’s idea of hilarity includes stuff like Heigl appearing on a giant video screen at a baseball game as she’s furiously trying to rub soda out of Winter’s crotch, and Butler falling into a Jell-O-filled kiddie pool with a pair of hot women. Its comic centerpiece sees Heigl wearing a pair of vibrating panties to an important dinner at a restaurant where a kid gets hold of the remote.
Inevitably, Butler’s character gets softened up so as to prove he’s a human being after all and to make his falling for Heigl more credible. Which is really too bad, since he’s actually better and funnier as the chauvinistic jerk than as the romantic. Heigl is hilarious in general, despite inhabiting a stock rom-com character and, realistically, being far too pretty to have any true problems finding a date.
I do wish that the film had chosen to have Heigl end up with Winter’s decent doc instead, and that Luketic hadn’t been so obvious in showing us the exact moment Heigl falls for Butler. But he does give us a somewhat novel finale involving hot air balloons, stage a sexy dance scene to Spanish music, and include the amusing (and wholly appropriate) sight of Butler in a gorilla suit. - [DVD]
Comedy/Romance
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 11/10/09
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