Director: David McNally
Starring: Piper Perabo,Adam Garcia,Maria Bello,Melanie Lynskey,Izabella Miko,Bridget Moynahan,Tyra Banks,John Goodman
Somehow, Coyote Ugly is supposed to be a chick flick. But I quickly
realized the results of having a chick flick filled with beautiful women being
directed by a man. Especially a man whose only other movie credit is one to be
released this year, in which the plot is described as such at imdb.com: “Two
childhood friends, a New York hairstylist and a would-be musician, get caught up
with the mob and are forced to deliver $100,000 to Australia, but things go
haywire when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo.” Sounds like some quality
work there, Mr. McNally.
Surprisingly, Coyote Ugly is a fun movie for the girls because,
essentially, it is a chick flick. Violet Samford is off to NYC from her home in
New Jersey to pursue her dreams of becoming a songwriter. Yeah, she’s hot and
has a great voice (voiced by LeAnn Rhimes, who has a cameo at the end, but
changes her singing voice for Violet) but she’s got terrible stage fright and
she’d rather write the songs. She can’t get her demo tapes to be heard
anywhere, and her apartment is ransacked. She needs a job, and soon finds
herself at the raunchy Coyote Ugly, owned by equally hot but sarcastic Lil
(Maria Bello), and employed by the equally hot but wild Cammie (Izabella Miko)
and caustic Rachel (Bridget Moynahan). Tyra Banks’s Zoe is off to law school,
but she does have a small part where she gyrates and shows off her famously
large…forehead. Who knew you didn’t need a big part in this movie to be
placed on its publicity poster, and all you needed was…well, you get the idea.
So she works at Coyote Ugly, where she’s dubbed “Jersey,” starts to come
out of her shell, enjoys her job, and meets a really cute guy with a really cute
Australian accent (Adam Garcia). But her dad finds out about her job and is
ashamed, her boyfriend gets pissed about her gyrations on the bar, and she never
quite gets that famous songwriter part. But wait! It’s not over, and since it’s
a chick flick, you know how it’ll end.
Okay, so the acting and writing are under par, and the plot is pretty
average. Plus, Violet’s character is a little schizophrenic - she’s sweet
and naďve, but also sharp and sass-say! And like I said, this movie was
directed by a guy who’s directing something where a kangaroo steals the mob’s
money. So for the first half hour, my girlfriends and I were treated to lots and
lots of booty shaking by the girls at the bar. Plus there was that great scene
where the girls got on the bar and wet themselves down with pitchers and
pitchers of cold water. Fortunately, we were watching with the right frame of
mind. Basically, it’s pretty damn unbelievable, but hey, it’s all in fun!
Besides, Aussie Adam Garcia was hot enough to make up for the fact that most of
the eye candy was for the guys (he’s not just hot, he’s adorable). So
somehow, the marketing guys managed to market this as both a chick flick, and
something that could be on E! as “Wild on…NYC.” I don’t know whether to
shake my head or shake their hands. Maybe I’ll just shake my booty.
