The first trailer for Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl’s rom-com, The Ugly Truth, has just gone online, and with it comes something of a surprise: the movie will be rated R for sexual content and language. And maybe, just maybe, Gerry Butler’s American accent.
In what seems like your standard rom-com set-up, Heigl plays a TV producer who take control of a show called The Ugly Truth, a no- nonsense self-help show presented by Butler’s boorish, unreconstructed chauvinist.
It’s hate at first sight, yadda yadda yadda, Heigl wants to take him down, he wants to take down her particulars, then she falls for a surgeon and they cut a deal: Butler will give her advice that will seal the deal. If it doesn’t work, he’ll quit the show. Cue hilarious hijinks that might – just might – bring our gorgeous pairing together.
So far, so conventional – but although the trailer for the movie, directed by Robert Luketic, is relatively laugh-free, there’s still enough hints that Heigl and Butler could generate significant chemistry. Heigl, of course, is the new queen of rom-com and Butler is charisma personified – although, with the best will in the world, we’d advise him to stick with his own Scottish accent, rather than wandering through all 50 states in one sentence.
And then, of course, there’s the intriguing R-rating, which suggests that this could get much raunchier than the trailer suggests. Let’s hope so, for this trailer hasn’t blown us away. Fnar fnar, etc. etc.