The story is a familiar one.  Boy meets girl.  Girl instantly loathes the boy.  Circumstances dictate that they must work together.  Boy tries to win her over... and... you know the rest.  But the process is so winningly played by Heigl and Butler, you can’t help but laugh along as they reach the inevitable conclusion.  

 

Heigl plays Abby, a domineering producer of a Sacramento morning television show.  On the job she is in complete control, smoothly handling any crisis from traffic helicopter technical problems to the bickering husband and wife co-hosts (John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines).  Unfortunately, Abby’s control freak ways don’t transfer well to the relationship world.  Her strong demeanor scares away any and all potential suitors.  Even so, Abby harbors the romantic fantasy that Mr. Right is out there somewhere.

 

This belief is challenged by Butler’s Mike.  He’s a scruffy, crass, chauvinist who hosts an obscure cable show called “The Ugly Truth.”  Mike’s basic tenet is that men are simple neanderthals who only want one thing from a woman.  Two guesses as to what that is.  After coming home from a disastrous date, Abby turns on the TV and wanders onto the show.  So enraged at Mike’s rants, she calls in to confront him.  Mike’s phone put-down only serves to further enrage her.  Then, surprise!  Who does Abby’s boss hire to try and boost the show’s sagging ratings?

 

Abby and Mike clash from the start.  Impervious to her authority, he does whatever he wants.  She’s sure his actions will drag the show down into the mud.  Actually, it turns out to be jello.  Before Abby knows what is happening, Mike is staging jello wrestling matches with bikini-clad bimbos.  The ratings start rising, and Abby starts having nightmares in which she is doing the weather forecast wearing only cardboard clouds and a smile.  

 

But what kind of romantic comedy would this be if Abby and Mike didn’t come together?  This happens after she meets her new neighbor (Eric Winter).  A gorgeous doctor who, best of all, likes cats more than dogs, he’s everything Abby dreams of in a mate.  But as usual, her controlling ways might just ruin any chance of a match.  In steps Mike.  He offers to help Abby win over her doctor, if she agrees to stop trying to undermine his segment.  Abby agrees, and with Mike as her mentor, she begins the pursuit.  And as Mike draws out Abby’s inner sex kitten, he finds himself falling for her charms.

 

Heigl continues to build a claim as the new queen of film comedy.  She manages to be sufficiently sexy as her character is subject to one indignation after another.  Subject to a battery of slapstick situations, she spiritedly embraces them all.  This includes hanging upside down in a tree with her skirt around her head, finding herself on a baseball stadium jumbotron while her head is innocently in her boyfriend’s lap, and having to address the station’s corporate bigwigs while wearing a pair of vibrating panties that, of course, get switched on just at the wrong time.  Heigl milks long laughs out of them all.

 

Butler proves to be a worthy opponent.  He’s convincingly charismatic as the cad, willing to wallow in the jello when need be, yet always exuding just enough charm that you can’t really hate him.  Their battle is smoothly orchestrated by director Robert Luketic, and the action never drags.  He is ably aided by screenwriters Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith who give the leads enough sexually-charged banter to keep things lively between the slapstick.