Coyote Ugly (2000)

Have you ever seen a a dumb chick stop a bar brawl between sailors and construction workers by singing along with a jukebox? Me either.

In a buttshell: Dumb girl heads to big city to pursue pipe dream of pop star. Stranger in a strange land. Can't pay the bills. Crappy apartment in crappy part of city. Must resort to 'songwriting' on rooftop of crappy apartment building to avoid bothering neighbors. Gets job as new hot girl in sleazy cool joint. Dumb girl meets nice guy with accent in music industry. Oh enough. Puke.

Featuring a blockbuster performance by someone named Piper Perabo (huh?), this film is an abysmal petri dish, complete with women using T & A to sell booze to horny patrons in NYC. The cast is stereotypical in every way, and Tyra Banks even cameos as a sassy model-type that says things like "you go girl" and "oh no you di'int." The other girls include a psycho hottie, a tough boss hottie, and the other fill-in-the-blank hotties. Likewise for the men - all portrayed as beer-swilling blue collars, Jamison-swigging brokers, or tequila-shooting fratboys. How original.

The biggest problem? Why would John Goodman agree to be seen in this??

Fmovies: In many ways, actually, 'Coyote Ugly' from personal opinion didn't even come close to good.

Feel-good films when done right are very entertaining and heart-warming. However 'Coyote Ugly', while with its moments, has too many faults that are at worst ineptly done to succeed as a feel-good film.

Starting with 'Coyote Ugly's' good things, the best asset by far is the soundtrack, which is quite brilliant and deserved a far better film. The LeAnn Rimes numbers "The Right Kind of Wrong", "Please Remember" and "Can't Fight the Moonlight" particularly stand out of the songs, as does the classic Elvis Presley standard "Can't Help Falling in Love", one of the most beautiful all-time great romantic songs. The score is very nice too.

While the acting wasn't great at all, there is one good performance and it is that of John Goodman, who is an entertaining and amiably likable father figure. Some of the camera work is quite smart too.

On the other hand, while the music itself is of really high-quality it does feel too constant with little break and like there could have been less, there were definitely scenes that would have benefited much more without it or at least from music with a less intrusive approach. Too many scenes feel like amateurishly edited and lazily choreographed, with a lot of gloss and either being overblown or lacking energy, music videos, which is a huge problem in a film full of them and with a wafer-thin story that feels like an excuse to string these scenes together.

Also hugely problematic is how cliché-ridden and stereotypical it is. Not just the story, which has every done to death cliché in the book that everything feels forced and predictable with ridiculous and laughable dramatic elements with little chemistry and no substance or emotional connection whatsoever. We are also talking about the characters in a film loaded with every possible stereotype, another problem being that apart from Cammie and Bill very few of them are likable, with a difficult to relate to protagonist, and some add nothing to the film, Maria Bello's character is particularly useless and only there because the film "needed" the obligatory boss stereotype.

Goodman aside, the performances are not great, or even good, at all. Adam Garcia is particularly bad, with an acting ability so limited it's almost non-existent and he feels out of place too. He doesn't even work as eye candy that well. Piper Perabo tries hard but too often lacks charisma and doesn't display a wide range of emotions with sudden shifts in character that undermine the character's growth. Everybody else is bland or annoying though Izabella Miko has moments of charm. Dialogue is painfully trite and thin throughout, while the direction lacks panache and flash. The film looks alright, especially in the colours, locations and the camera work, which show a lot of style, but cheapened by too much gloss and amateurish editing.

Overall, there is a great soundtrack but 'Coyote Ugly' falls far short. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Violet Sanford is an aspiring songwriter. The young woman from the state of New Jersey finally packs her bags and move to New York to fulfil her dream.

Things weren't as rosy as she thought in the beginning. The demo tape being rejected, the apartment being broken into, leaving her with almost nothing. Everything was not according to what she had planned.

That is until she came across the newest nightclub in town - Coyote Ugly, where sexy, young women use all sorts of ways to draw in the crowds. With the songwriting ambitions on hold, Violet started her job there.

But will Violet still able to pursue the dream that her late mother never achieved?

The story of someone trying to make it big is always all too familiar. But it's always refreshing to see it being played out on the screen.

Coyote Ugly fmovies. Violet Sanford(Piper Perabo)wants to avoid a dead end life and decides to leave New Jersey for the big city. In NYC, she is determined to be a hit song writer. In order to make ends meet, she takes a job slinging beer and dancing on the bar with the other "Coyotes" at the popular watering hole Coyote Ugly. This is very titilating and an eye full to watch. The trailers don't give you any hint of substance. Perabo is so easy to like. I could watch her for hours. Maria Bello, who plays the bar owner is impressive as well. Also in the cast: Adam Garcia, John Goodman, Melanie Lynskey, Izabella Miko, Bridget Moyhnahan and a cameo by LeAnn Rimes, who actually is the singing voice of Perabo's character. Besides the four songs by Rimes, the soundtrack is full of music by the likes of The Charlie Daniels Band, Lenny Kravitz, Def Leppard, Blondie and Elvis Presley. Order another round and enjoy. This is actually worth seeing more than once.

I love "Coyote Ugly", even though it seems critics/reviewers had mixed opinions. I thought it was the best bar-flick since "Cocktail". If you haven't seen "Cocktail", it's a movie where Tom Cruise stars as a bartender, and he swirls bottles around and other cool tricks of the trade. In Coyote Ugly, you have Violet (Piper Perabo) who comes to NYC to become a singer/songwriter. While Violet's there she finds that nobody will accept her demos, so she goes looking for work and she finds a job in a local bar called, "Coyote Ugly". The bar is owned by Lil (Maria Bello), Lil is a hardcore chick who treats her bar like it's her home. While Violet is there she also learns the tricks of the trade, and she also dances on top of the bar. I'm not going to tell you if Violet becomes a singer/songwriter or not, because that would wreck the movie, but I am going to tell you that this is a great movie. Personally, I would have to recommend this to anybody that has hopes and dreams of making it big. I'm giving this a 8 out of 10, because it has an amazing story, memorable characters and a lot of great lines, but I have to tell you one of the best parts is the theme song, "Can't Fight The Moonlight". So, if you love bar-flicks like "Cocktail" you'll love "Coyote Ugly".

I have to say that when I saw the trailer I thought this was going to be a film about some half naked women and some people drinking a lot. But, when the film ended I have to say I was really surprised. A good surprise. Some people will probably disagree with me but this is not a film about nudity or something like that, it is a film about following your dreams, about leaving home searching for something real. I think Piper Perabo is excellent in her role as Violet, who actually sings some of the songs in the film. I'd recommend it to everyone who wants to have a great time.