( CNN ) -- Humiliation and comedy have always been natural bedfellows , but the one does n't guarantee the other , as poor Katherine Heigl discovers in this crude , sub-par stab at a modern screwball comedy . Katherine Heigl plays the sophisticated female boss of Gerard Butler in `` The Ugly Truth . '' The `` Grey 's Anatomy '' and `` Knocked Up '' star plays Abby , a supposedly intelligent producer on a local Sacramento TV news show . We 're repeatedly assured that she 's good at her job , though there 's little or no evidence for that in what we see , and apparently the ratings are in the toilet . That 's why her boss drafts controversial cable clown Mike ( Gerard Butler ) , whose bargain basement show `` The Ugly Truth '' gives viewers the real dope on the opposite sex . Mike 's straight talk is n't exactly edifying -- or original . It boils down to this : men are only interested in one thing , and it 's not your IQ score . His advice to women : swallow your pride -- and anything else that might come up . Abby is understandably skeptical , both professionally and personally , but the sweeps prove her wrong . Mike may be outrageous , but Sacramento loves him for it . A smarter comedy might make mischief from these base ingredients , the sophisticated female boss and her rude , reactionary star employee . But this movie , which is credited to three female screenwriters , bends over backward to accommodate Mike 's tired old sexist world view and fails to be funny in the process . Abby really is a neurotic control freak , living alone with her cat and a checklist about what constitutes the perfect guy . And when a close approximation of the type moves in right next door ( Eric Winton as a handsome young doctor ) , she only lands him by putting herself in Mike 's hands : accentuating her cleavage , losing the ponytail and trading in dinner and an art show for a hot dog and a baseball game . Directed by Robert Luketic ( `` Monster in Law '' ) , `` The Ugly Truth '' barely attempts to disguise its own lifts and tucks . The most craven of these gambits involves Abby going into multiple orgasm at a business dinner , a variation on Meg Ryan 's famous scene in `` When Harry Met Sally , '' except that in Ryan 's case , she was in full control , demonstrating her mastery of the fake-out . Abby , though , is sent into inadvertent paroxysms when the remote control of the vibrating panties she 's wearing -- do n't ask -- falls into the hands of a curious kid . Watch the stars describe the scene » . In other scenes , Heigl is caught hanging upside down from a tree in her nightgown , hiding in her office closet and furiously rubbing a stain out of the doctor 's crotch in front of a stadium of ball fans . Presumably this is what picking up Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock 's cast-offs entails these days . Katharine Hepburn would weep . But what about Mike ? Surely he has lessons to learn and comic indignities to endure ? Not so much . In contrast to Abby 's makeover , he 's allowed to be comfortable in his own rather corpulent skin . Gerard Butler evidently has n't worked out since Sparta ; heck , he has n't even bothered to shave . You wo n't be surprised that the avowed bachelor boy falls in love with dear Abby . Of course he 's a nice guy underneath . We know that from the way he looks out for his fatherless nephew . So what if he 's a sexist pig ? He 's a sexy sexist pig , and obviously father material . What more could any woman want ? `` The Ugly Truth '' is rated R and runs 97 minutes . For Entertainment Weekly 's review , click here .
`` The Ugly Truth '' is a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler . Movie bends over backward to accommodate a tired old sexist world view . Film fails to be funny in the process .