The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER Published: 6 August 2009
Katherine Heigl in The Ugly Truth
Also on release this week
Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus.
Director: Jack Perez. Certificate 15
Likely to have a similar cult base as the awful-yet-brilliant Snakes On A Plane, this flick essentially does what it says on the tin. Scientists discover deep under the sea frozen specimens from a gazillion years ago – and then unleash major havoc when they thaw them out. Some highlights include the shark leaping all of 15,000ft in the air, clamping its jaws round a passenger plane, and dragging it to its watery depths. Utter nonsense. Excellent!
Home. Director: Ursula Meier. Certificate 15 You wouldn’t wish this on any rural folk (although it’s just what you’d want to happen to urbanites who have found themselves in the country: I’m thinking Blur bassist Alex James, who bangs on and on and on about how superior he is now he has chickened out of living in London). Picture the scene: a gorgeous quiet house in the middle of nowhere, with a straw in the hair, daisy chain round their neck type of family. Things of course go pear-shaped. A motorway is rammed just yards away from their front door, but rather than up sticks and move, Marthe, Michel and their three children decide that they won’t be forced out – they’ll just have to manage, somehow. Director Ursula Meier plays this gently and gets a very watchable performances from our unfortunate and unlikely heroes.
The Ugly Truth. Director: Robert Luketic. Certificate TBC Run-of-the-mill rom-com with two leads who you hope don’t get any – they are both so vile and smug. TV producer Abby (Katherine Heigl) is searching for Mr Perfect and perhaps having to accept he doesn’t exist. Then loudmouth morning telly sofa-sitter Mike (Gerard Butler) pops up to apparently explain what makes men and women tick. Cue a host of crude jokes and supposedly insightful skits on the battle of the genders. Sadly, it is sexist clap-trap and not a good example of the genre.