It will come as no shock to anyone that women can be as sexist and misogynistic as men. That’s a fact most of us have figured out. But it’s so much more depressing when women get kicked in the teeth by other women on a great big movie screen.
I was looking forward to seeing The Ugly Truth because of Katherine Heigl. She is a TV and movie star which is a hard thing to pull off nowadays. She’s also developing her own material with her producing partner and manager, her mom. And she stood up to Judd Apatow in saying that Knocked Up was sexist. But she has lost a lot of credibility since her new flick The Ugly Truth is sexist and misogynistic.
Raunchy R rated comedies are one of the “things” now in Hollywood. Think The Hangover and all of the Judd Apatow flicks and the knockoffs of his flicks. Most of those films are about guys where women are basically missing and underwritten. According to a Variety article Hollywood thinks that it can make money doing R rated comedies from a women’s perspective. The article says these comedies are part of a “naughty girl” movement (could that be more sexist?) that is supposedly led by members of the Diablo Cody “fempire.”
Lumping women writers together is a common technique but Juno is nothing like The Ugly Truth. Now I know Diablo Cody doesn’t need me to defend her, but Juno didn’t sell out women the way the way The Ugly Truth does. Incidentally Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith who wrote the script of The Ugly Truth with Nicole Eastman were not included in the story about the fempire so there is no way to know whether they are a part of the group.
Heigl plays a type of woman we have been seeing a lot lately. The good at work but bad at life woman. She is the producer of a morning show who turns into a walking idiot when she allows Gerard Butler’s Mike to school her in the ways of dating. He basically says no guy would want a woman with your personality so dump who you are and pretend to be someone else cause that’s how you will get the guy. The film is riddled with cliches about competent women and how they are all control freaks, have cats, wear ponytails, wear comfortable clothes, don’t masturbate etc. Basically the film’s premise tells women to throw out 40 years of women’s progress cause it’s such a turn off. BTW the film also sells out and demeans men.
I can understand the excitement that McCullah Lutz, Eastman and Smith must have had when they were given the freedom to write like a guy after years of being reigned in. Here’s what they said in the Variety article.
“When they told us to make it R, the heavens opened and the angels sang,” Lutz says. “We always pitch our dirty jokes to each other knowing we can’t use them. Suddenly, it was like, ‘Oh my God! We can write like we actually talk!’ “
But just because you have the freedom to say f-ck or c-ck as many times as you want does that mean that you should? And does this mean that we are now going to see women’s comedies that are just as bad as the guys in the theatres where the ones that are actually subversive and stand up for women like Spring Breakdown get relegated to the DVD shelves?
Is this progress?
Can Girls Out-Gross Guys at the Box Office? (Variety)
Unlike many, I didn’t respect Heigl for speaking out against Knocked Up. While what she said was true, I still want to know what kind of a person takes the job, does the PR, waits for it to be a hit and then slams it. And yes, then follows it up with a film like The Ugly Truth. Even the trailer is riddled with cliches.
She is talented, and has a growing power in the industry. She succeeds at film and tv and that is no small task. For that, she should be applauded, but now that she has a certain degree of power, I wish she would use it more wisely.
If anything, we need her. We all need Katherine Heigl to make better choices because we don’t have enough Katherine Heigls out there who have won the right to make any choice at all.
But… I think we SHOULD be able to have our own raunchy, sexist female-written, female-led comedies. If the men can have their own sexist raunchy comedies, why can’t we? Is that progress? I say yes.
I’ve always bitterly complained that there is no female version of Superbad or Knocked Up. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but I can guarantee you that many women out there would be very happy to see an adult female raunchy comedy (including me).
I’m tired of people saying that women aren’t funny and can’t be funny, let alone have a raunchy sense of humor.
I guess I’ll have to wait and see how I like “The Ugly Truth.”
Well, I say to you, Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist, why do women’s raunchy comedies have to be just as sexist as men’s raunchy comedies? Women should not be making movies and money at the expense of other women. Selling other women out is not the way to go about getting laughs.
I cringe every time I see this trailer. Especially the new trailer that has just started as the promotion for the week before the movie premieres. It is the “battle of the sexes” trailer with the “points.” I have not idea where these points come from and how they relate to what is happening in the trailer. It seems like men get points for saying sexist comments and women get points for using their sexuality as a weapon. How is this progress? It seems like the same old sexism, just repackaged in movie centering around women.
I also hate the poster for this movie. It basically says women overthink their love lives and men can only think with their genitals. What ever happened to the heart? This is not only offensive to women, but to men as well.
I also wrote a post about this movie. I should say don’t judge a book by it’s cover – don’t just a movie by its trailer. But I can’t see how this movie could be anything but what the trailer is portraying. You can read my post here: http://youngfeministadventures.blogspot.com/2009/07/truth-about-ugly-truth.html
Bummer.
I was very afraid this was going to be the case with “The Ugly Truth”, especially after I saw the first trailer. I’m sad to hear from Melissa that my suspicions were right.
I so agree with Melissa here…I’m glad these female writers were finally given free reign to “write like they actually talk”…but if you are just tryin’ to be like the guys (Ugh.) — that doesn’t necessarily make it great writing, ya know?
Hmmm…I guess I just don’t need to see any more raunchy R-rated comedies that are demeaning to women….OR men. Bor-ING.
(By the way, I saw a screening two weeks ago of “500 Days of Summer” and LOVED it. SO great. Now, THAT’S what we need more of!)
OK, I’m going to a screening of “The Ugly Truth” tonight…and then talking about it on the radio Friday morning. I’ll try to keep an open mind.
C’mon Katherine….make your next selection something we can all really look forward to and get behind. We like you, we really do.
Hey, we wanna like your movies, too.
I wrote a female version of Superbad! It’s a buddy comedy about two teenage girls, and while it’s not quite as raunchy as Superbad, the girls get drunk, get high, drop f-bombs and make sex jokes.
I thought it was pretty obvious that The Ugly Truth would base most of its humor on gross, outdated sexual stereotypes, so I never had any intention of seeing it. And I’m not a fan of Katherine Heigl. I don’t think she has any interest in choosing roles that empower women in general. She just didn’t like the fact that her character in Knocked Up wasn’t as fun as the male characters. But as long as she gets to be fun and funny and cute, I doubt that she cares or notices whether a film is actually sexist or not.
“But… I think we SHOULD be able to have our own raunchy, sexist female-written, female-led comedies. If the men can have their own sexist raunchy comedies, why can’t we? Is that progress? I say yes.”
Huh? Why does a movie have to be sexist to be raunchy?
I saw Katherine Heigl on Regis and Kelly this morning. I was interested in hearing what she had to say about the movie. While I don’t remember exactly what she said, she made it seem like the film was empowering to women. She talked all about how is was the women’s alternative to the Appatow films (like you said), which was a good thing for women. But as you explained in your post and as we have seen in the comments, just because it focuses on a woman, doesn’t mean that it’s empowering for women.
I just hate that this movie is trying to be portrayed as feminist and empowering for women, when it is clearly not.
I believe Ms. Heigl learned from her errors in complaining about Knocked Up after she cashed the Pay Cheque. If you have principles, stand on them from the beginning, not after the movie pays you and puts you on the map. Instead, now, she’s placing a positive spin on a movie, that very clearly is the wrong one to defend.
Ms. Heigl seems to be new at the “working the fans and media” game. She has a very good publicity company in her corner. She needs to use them more.
Isn’t Hollywood coming out with a female version of The Hangover called The Business Trip? It probably will be raunchy, too. I think it’s sad that our culture has become so crass that movies have to do bathroom humor in order to sell in Hollywood. What about being witty and charming to make people laugh? It’s not really progress for women if they think equality means simply imitating the worst behavior of men.
raunchy, funny =good
sexist =bad
Controversial, honest, in your face comedy that blurs the line, like Joan Rivers early stand up~ good in my book, but, many hated the self depricating. She used her experience, not what her experience should or could be.
I don’t feel like the characters in films need to be obvious feminists. I just want them to be developed and not defined by their relationship with men (wife, GF, mom, etc.).
In a comedy like this, we hope it will have a lil Cho type defiance, but no, huh? Maybe Heigl is just vapid and the writers are too young to know what it was like before the women’s lib movement of the 70’s.
Sandra Bullock has proven she doesn’t have to make weak female characters and rely on old sexist stereotypes to have a phenomenally lucrative career.
I haven’t seen the Ugly Truth, I had hopes for it.
There’s a sort of sell out here of making very sure that there is enough raunch and women in bikinis for the guys watching. And, please, another movie like a woman’s magazine about giving up and changing yourself so you can get laid? Because, legally, only haut women are allowed to have a sex drive. At the present time only 15 to 20% of all women (at most) are allowed to legally have a sex drive. Did you know that? Little known statistic.
Women need to dig out the hate in themselves too, though. Overhearing women talking about a famous guy stepping out on his wife..”and she wasn’t even good looking..” Women also hold the idea that slimmer women, pretty women, are entitled by natural law. And a study once showed that younger women have a harder time viewing women actresses being “ugly” for comedy. Let’s let that go. If you see a woman at your local business meeting at the round table, and she is heavier than you or “not as pretty as you” support her success. Now women writers and directors have to have a certain look.
Speaking of weak female characters, check out the upcoming movie “Funny People.” Apparently, only two actresses are allowed: the haut blonde character who got away and the boyish faux ugly comedian (wears glasses, rail thin, lip injections) – they could have the older Adam Sandler, but apparently couldn’t have Jeanne Garafolo. Also, the male characters are allowed to be a range of body types – the women, not so much.
Wow, some people need to lighten the F up. I like raunchy humor and I don’t have a problem with sexist humor, as long as BOTH genders are targetted equally. But then again, I’m one of those people who have no problem with offensive jokes.
Everyone has a different sense of humor. I happen to be a huge fan of “The Hangover,” “Superbad,” and raunchy comedies with male leads… and I’m NOT sorry if that offends some of you. Yes, I still stand by my comment. I would like to see more female raunchy comedies that have jokes about sex, bodies, and men. It’s too bad that some of you are pparently so uptight.
One of the nice things about Superbad was the message that once you get past all the raunch, men can experience pretty intense emotional relationships with each other – whether they’re open about those relationships or not.
The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (the last complex thing Apatow ever made) had some pretty sweet depictions of the emotional inner-lives of men as well.
It makes me wonder why guys aren’t more angry about they way they’re usually portrayed: sex-addled morons without a meaningful thought or gentle impulse in their bodies.
By the way, we also did a critique of the Ugly Truth trailer, and why it’s a perfect women’s studies seminar.
http://theamericanvirgin.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-ugly-but-it-certainly-is-not-truth.html
” I would like to see more female raunchy comedies that have jokes about sex, bodies, and men”
I still fail to see how a movie needs to be sexist in order to do this.
Re:Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist
I too loved Superbad, especially the part where Michael Cera’s character is in bed at the party with the girl- his response was that of someone who was raised with an awareness of feminism. I saw it and then recommended my son go see it with his friend who looks and acts so much like Cera, it’s uncanny.
40 yr. old Virgin was funny and sweet, I saw it on DVD. I loved the teenage daughter and the scene at the OBG office with the group.
Ugly Truth wont get my money, 500 days of summer might, I’ll rent the Proposal because Bullock has proven herself (times are tight or I’d go see it at the cinema), I saw Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist at the theater and it was worth it.
I am looking forward to making and watching films with FEMALE characters that are like and go beyond those we saw in Stand By Me, SuperbaD and many others.
I was wild, my friends were/are wild, we were/are artists who don’t read cosmo, aren’t obsessed with shoe shopping, do not have weddings with ugly dresses, don’t sit around dreaming about weddings and “snaring” the perfect guy. Those of us who have chosen to have children, raise them without so much gender bias, without TV, and with a knowledge of nature and city life. We run companies, show our art all over the world, write in ways that change the written word, make music that musicians love, theater that only die hard theater enthusiasts ever even hear about. We are confident and have both male and female friends. Romantically, we’ve made great bad and good choices and learned from both types of experiences. We have style, men and woman yearn after us.
We are not predators, we are not pining, we are not confused about life. We are not so stupid that we don’t know how to have friends and a social life while also having a career and other interests and NONE of us defines herself by any relationship with a male.
We are not alone and we would like to go to the movies and not be insulted.
I watched Spring Breakdown the other night. So good!
“It makes me wonder why guys aren’t more angry about they way they’re usually portrayed: sex-addled morons without a meaningful thought or gentle impulse in their bodies.”
The guys aren’t angry because it is relaxing entertainment. Guys are allowed to exhale on screen. Imagine if the gal who was 20 or 30 pounds overweight were allowed to get the guy. Imagine if a woman was depicted that really didn’t give a shit about being perfect or was career driven – but was pleasure driven, a lovable pot-smoking loser who still gets the guy. It’s relaxing to see that because if on the big screen, the non-scared female gets the sex then you can. Guys can wind down from their competitive day by seeing the lovable loser win. They may not view themselves as that loser, but it’s certainly easy to be better. While the girls see something that makes them more insecure. We’re not allowed to exhale in our seats for a minute.
What if women weren’t so hard on themselves on screen? What if women weren’t so scared to get too fat, too loud, too lazy, too pleasure driven? Women seem to be raised to be ultra hard on themselves even in the world of imagination. We don’t allow ourselves to day dream that we get the guy as we are. If we saw a lovable female loser, would we say, “good for her!” or would we say “I don’t know what he sees in her…she’s so faaaaat! And her clothing choices are dowdy.” Meanwhile the guy would say “good for that loser that gets the girl!” Liberation should at least exist in imagination. The world is hard enough. Let the women relax even in fiction!
Hi Golly,
I don’t know who this “we” is you speak of.
Your description of women does not apply to me or any of my female friends and associates.
Of course, we don’t buy the beauty magazines that are designed to make you feel ugly enough to buy the expensive products advertised within.
Maybe the Ugly Truth is a film made for women who subscribe to Cosmo. Bless their ignotant hearts.
ignorant