BOTTOM LINE: Some funny and crude moments lead to some laughs, but ultimately, “The Ugly Truth” is too ugly for its own good; an over-the-top, silly and uneven romantic comedy that never gels.

THE GOOD: Television Producer Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is under pressure to lift the ratings for her morning show. Her boss hires Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), a shock jock who promotes ‘the ugly truth’ about relationships between men and women. Abby is horrified, but eventually Mike begins teaching Abby about how to score the guy she is interested in by using Mike’s proven techniques. What makes “The Ugly Truth” different from your usual rom-com is that you usually do not see a man teaching a woman how to get a man. This premise leads to some funny situations, particularly with Mike being as crass as possible to Abby to get his point across. Eventually, as you might expect, Mike develops feelings for Abby which takes them to the usual places. For the most part, Heigl and Butler have good chemistry together and are the sole reason why any of this works at all. For these scenes, the film is worth watching. “The Ugly Truth” has some fun moments.

THE BAD: The problem with the film lies in the fact that the ugly truth is perhaps too ugly. Mike is funny when he tells it like it is, but it is perhaps too over the top for its own good, to the point where you wonder how a woman like Abby would even consider his opinion, even for a nanosecond. This balance between shock comedy and romantic comedy ultimately never gels together comfortably, leaving an uneven and silly mess of a film in its wake. This unfortunately gets worse the further the film progresses as it proceeds down the usual rom-com formula of the two protagonists getting together at the end. Perhaps if the film had stayed with its initial shock premise as seen in the first act it may have played better, but the reliance on the rom-com formula ultimately cuts the film off at the knees, making it very weak and muddled.