Movie Reviews

Coyote Ugly

3 Jan 2001

In "Coyote Ugly", small-town girl Violet Sanford (newcomer Piper Perabo) moves to New York, hoping to realise her song-writing ambitions. As she soon discovers, it's tough breaking into the music business.

The movie business, however, must be another matter. Director David McNally (another newcomer) proves that you can hit the big time, even with a movie full of clichés, forced dialogue and shallow caricatures. Nonetheless, it is tempting to like it for two performances: the nicely dry John Goodman (as Violet's father) and our own Adam Garcia (as her boyfriend). Garcia ("Bootmen") is no great actor, but he has a likeable, irreverent charm, almost like an Aussie Michael J. Fox. His dancing talents, while under-used, also come in handy.

It is ironic that the best characters are the only significant males, because Gina Wendtkos's script is a woman's view of seedy, after-hours Manhattan. To survive, Violet gets a job in a crowded bar, Coyote Ugly, as one of a group of barmaids who attracts queues by dancing on the counter, teasing patrons, and generally behaving wildly. Introduced as "Jersey", an ex-nun and "New York's last remaining virgin", she soon gets into the spirit, performing to the crowd, singing along (and gyrating) to an obscure Blondie song. A strange take on the American dream: any girl from New Jersey, if she tries hard, can happily make a living as a cheap slut.

The film later suggests that it's actually demeaning to use sexuality in such a way. Film-makers are presumably an exception: promoting this film with posters of stunning, scantily-clad women, then proceeding to give us exactly that. (At least they're honest.) In fairness, there are scenes where the women actually, like, serve drinks - and do it with gusto, pouring beers with almost as much style as Bryan Brown made drinks in "Cocktail". Remember all those nifty cocktail-shaking moves in "Cocktail"? Weren't they cool? Remember that "Cocktail" was still a God-awful film? It's a bit like that.

So, is "Coyote Ugly" moralising, or just titillating? It seems to have a few points to make. Unfortunately, in its valiant attempts to make you approve of each and every major character, it ends up saying nothing.