Obviously, The Ugly Truth will be a distant runner-up to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in the final box-office tally. But it lags behind that blockbuster in another, perhaps less-expected way as well: According to Rotten Tomatoes, the nation's movie critics seem to prefer the much-loathed Michael Bay epic to Katherine Heigl's latest romantic comedy but a nearly two-to-one margin. The hate isn't quite as acidic for Truth, but there's no denying it's ugly. Read on for a vivid sampling:
9. "Heigl plies her trade in so-called chick flicks, the Lean Cuisine of romantic comedy, and her latest contribution, The Ugly Truth -- or, as I fondly came to think of it, the Baja-style chicken quesadilla (only five Weight Watchers points!) -- casts her as an undersexed television news producer named Abby Richter." -- Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
8. "Do I really have to go through it? Can't we all just rewatch Woman of the Year instead? Well, no, not really, because Tracy and Hepburn didn't do vibrator jokes." -- Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
7. "Slow and odorous, The Ugly Truth is mired in phoniness up to its neck. And above that, there's nothing." -- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
6. "Its crass sex jokes feel like chum for mentally stunted males, while its dimwitted storyline seems aimed at females who find paperback romances overly nuanced. It's doubtful these demographics even exist outside the filmmakers' cynical imaginations." -- Rafer Guzman, Newsday
5. "The two leads, bathed in an otherworldly golden light that makes their skin look honey-roasted and turns their teeth into beacons, look tasty indeed, almost finger-lickin' good." -- Manohla Dargis, New York Times
4. "Butler never makes Mike more than a sitcom stereotype of a knuckle-dragging sexist; it doesn't help that cinematographer Russell Carpenter seems to have conspired with the hair and makeup people to make the usually handsome actor look like a walking amalgam of the worst facets of all four Baldwin brothers." -- Alonso Duralde, MSNBC
3. "Mike advises Abby on push-up bras and sagely counsels, "When he asks about your problems, it means he wants to stick his dick in your ass." (Remember, gals: To avoid anal rape, just smile and say nothing the next time your fella asks how your day at work was.)" -- Melissa Anderson, Movieline
2. "Something is very wrong when the beast is instantly more appealing than the beauty and when a comedy becomes an essay in misogyny." -- Richard Corliss, Time
1. "Toss this ugly-ass crap to the curb." -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone