The Ugly Truth

If there's one thing Hollywood-style romcoms have in common, it's their ability to leave you feeling optimistic, hopeful and just down-right giddy with whimsical notions of the possibility of happy endings (of the fairytale kind). I love them.

Last night I took a group of friends off to a preview screening of The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.

Here's how imdb.com describes the plot: A romantically challenged morning show producer (Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent (Butler) to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love. His clever ploys, however, lead to an unexpected result.

I'm not sure if whoever wrote the above actually saw the movie. For starters, there was nothing unexpected about the result. I mean, c'mon - how do all romcoms end? And that's exactly what I love about them. No hidden surprises, no plot twists. Instead, there's lots of longing, lingering looks by smouldering lead characters, witty one-liners, cliched support cast, and the token exposed bit of flesh to get the women in the audience all hot and bothered.

I'm a big fan of Heigl (27 Dresses and Knocked Up are two of my favourites) and I have a teeny tiny crush on Butler (PS I Love You and Rock'n'Rolla are also on my favourites list), so it would be fair to say I was just a little excited to see The Ugly Truth. I expected a witty battle of the sexes and I wasn't disappointed. Butler's chauvinistic, sexist, yet brutally honest delivery of his character, Mike, was as tacky as it was sexy (we all like a bad guy); while Heigl's portrayal of Abby left me cringing in points and wanting to slap her (and breathing a sigh of relief that I'm not as cynical and jaded as her... yet), but I couldn't help but celebrate her little romantic triumphs along the way.

A little quirky fact I came across was that when the movie was distributed to cinemas, it was labelled under the code name "Helpful Advice". Very cute.

The great thing about The Ugly Truth is that girls finally have a romcom they can drag the boys along to, and they are likely to equally enjoy it. If only for the eternally memorable and deliciously hilarious restaurant scene that outdoes Meg Ryan's infamous scene in When Harry Met Sally.

So, if I'm evaluating this movie based on what I think makes a great romcom - then it's a hit. It's going on the favourites list. I loved it.

Favourite love quotes

One of my favourite movies of all time is "The Holiday" starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black and Jude Law.

I was flicking through my movie collection the other day and realised I hadn't watched it in a while, so popped it into the DVD player and settled in for a few brain-silencing hours.

There's an opening monologue by Kate Winslet, that I absolutely adore and want to share with you:

I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one-sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas's, the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back.

It's one of my most favourite movie openings, because immediately I can relate to what's happening and the character. There's no tip-toeing around the subject, Iris (Kate Winslet) just comes straight out and says it and I connect with her straight away.

There's so many ideas of love in this 30second piece that I don't even know where to start... so for now I'm just going to share it with you and then over the course of a few postings I'll attempt to tell you a few stories of my own that make Iris's words ring so true to me.

What's your favourite love quote(s)?