Producer
Jerry Bruckheimer has definitely fallen off the deep end this time. He's never
been a man known for bringing profound pieces of art to the screen, but he's always
tried to deliver a good time, and with the infectiously likable, yet ridiculous
Coyote Ugly, it's hard to determine exactly who the target audience is.
Piper
Perabo (Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle) is a young gal with aspirations of
being a professional songwriter. She moves all the way to the big city (actually,
she only moves from New Jersey to New York City) to pursue her aspirations, but
must overcome terrible stage fright to make her dreams come true. To make a living,
she takes a job at The Coyote Ugly, a loud, rowdy bar, in which all the bartenders
are sexy woman who pour drinks and strut their stuff.
Coyote
Ugly moves at a meandering pace to say the least. As you watch it, you will almost
certainly feel as if you missed something, but you haven't. The characters are
one dimensional, and the plot seems to be strung together with leftovers from
Cocktail and Flashdance. Still, many of the performances are appealing--most notably,
Maria Bello (E.R., Payback) as the owner of Coyote Ugly, and John Goodman as Perabo's
father. Perabo seems comfortable, but I wouldn't call this a star making performance.
She strives to give us a kind of Julia Roberts warmth, but because of a really
stupid story, it never really shines through.
It's
hard to see how a film like Coyote Ugly could get greenlighted, even by someone
like Bruckheimer. I've never heard of director David McNally, and his MTV style
is more annoying than anything else. Coyote Ugly isn't the bottom of the barrel,
but it is pretentious, derivative and forgettable.
