| Director | Robert Luketic |
|---|---|
| Genre | romantic comedy |
| Runtime | 96 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $38 million |
| Box office | $205 million |
Abby Richter is a morning show television producer in Sacramento, California who believes in true love and is a big supporter of self-help books. Coming home from a disastrous date, she sees a local television show, The Ugly Truth, featuring Mike Chadway, whose cynicism about relationships prompts Abby to call in to argue with him on-air. The next day, she discovers that the television station threatens to cancel her show because of poor ratings. So, the station owner has hired Mike to do a segment on her show.
At first, the two have a rocky relationship; Abby thinks Mike is crass and disgusting while he finds her naive and a control freak. Nevertheless, when she meets the man of her dreams, a doctor named Colin, Mike convinces her that by following his advice, she will improve her chances with him. They make a deal: If Mike's management of her courtship results in her landing Colin, she will work peacefully with him, but if Mike fails, he leaves her show.
Mike improves the show's ratings, brings married co-anchors Georgia and Larry closer, and successfully instructs Abby to be precisely what Colin would want through many pointers, including: always laughing at his jokes and saying he is amazing in bed. Mike is invited to appear on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and is offered a job at another network. Abby is forced to cancel a romantic weekend with Colin, during which they had planned to finally sleep together, and instead fly to Los Angeles to persuade Mike to stay with her show.
Mike admits he does not want to move because he wants to stay near his sister and nephew in Sacramento. In the hotel elevator, they passionately kiss but go to their separate rooms. Mike, dealing with the intensity of his feelings for Abby, visits her room only to find Colin has shown up to surprise her, so Mike leaves. Abby realizes that Colin only likes the woman she has been pretending to be, not the real her, and breaks up with him.
Mike takes a job with a rival television station in Sacramento and does a broadcast at the same hot air balloon festival as Abby. He cannot resist intruding when she kicks the new "Mike Chadway" imitator off the air and begins ranting about what cowardly weaklings men are. The balloon takes off with them aboard while they argue. Abby says she broke up with Colin, and Mike admits he loves her. Abby kisses him while they fly off, all broadcast due to a camera mounted in the balloon. The film ends with Abby and Mike in bed. When Mike asks if she was faking it, Abby responds, "You'll never know."