That’s Hot. That’s Not.
Wannabe musician and slacker Nate Cooper has never quite gotten over his childhood crush, Cristabel Abbott, much to the annoyance of his current girlfriend. After she’s finally had enough of him, Nate finds himself moving back to L.A. in order to track Cristabel down in the hopes of finally making her his after all these long years.
However, as old school buddy Arno informs him, things haven’t changed all that much since grade school, meaning that to get through to ‘hottie’ Cristabel, Nate will have to gain the approval of her best friend and ultimate ‘nottie’, the vile looking June Phigg.
What follows is an extreme lesson in trying to set up the world’s most unattractive woman with whoever will take her, stopping at nothing in order to achieve this. However, as June’s transformation gets underway and a new perfect specimen of a man moves in with the group, Nate finds himself in the strangest of predicaments – just who is it that he actually has a connection with?
The Hottie and the Nottie is a 2008 romantic comedy written by Heidi Ferrer (who previously penned a couple of episodes of Dawson’s Creek) and is director Tom Putnam’s full-length feature film debut. The movie stars Paris Hilton, Joel Moore, Christine Lakin, and The Greg Wilson in the leading roles.
Yeah, well the title in itself already tells you not to expect too much from this movie and it certainly turns out to be one of the most see through romantic comedies you will ever come across. The story relies heavily on the sheer grossness of June’s appearance and various conditions, meaning that the story remains pretty light and relies for the most part on some gross-out humour in order to get the smallest of chuckles out of the audience.
The romantic tone of the movie is written out nicely enough I guess, but the constant layering of stupid humour pretty much overrides any effectiveness it might have had and you are left with a pretty flat movie that serves as nothing more than a Paris Hilton fanboy vehicle which doesn’t deliver anything of substance to those who may actually not like this rather over-rated (in my opinion) woman.
Despite the ham-fisted script that the actors are forced to work with, I must admit to liking the performances from basically all the lead actors, including the ridiculously titled ‘The Greg Wilson’ who plays his part of the slob mommy’s boy with an embarrassing passion. Joel Moore with his unique facial features plays the part of the confused and slightly manipulative Nate pretty well, though he certainly isn’t the greatest of physical comedy performers. Despite my general dislike of Paris Hilton, she actually wasn’t bad in her role either, though it did become a little cringe-worthy when the director kept trying to emphasize her ‘awe-inspiring beauty and figure’ the whole time. As for the sarcastic Christine Lakin, you can only wonder what on earth made her sign up for this role because really, the makeup she’s forced to endure can be described as nothing less than all out, barbaric torture! :)
On that front, the special effects/make up team certainly went all out because the hapless June Phigg certainly is one of the most vile, disgusting girls you will ever come across, and it is almost amazing the transition between the fairly attractive Christine Lakin and her onscreen persona of the hideous June Phigg. Other than that, there isn’t too much to talk about in terms of special effects or camerawork, with the movie coming across as pretty well shot, though nothing out of the ordinary to make it stand out as something special – par for the course when you remember that this is nothing more than a romantic comedy of course.
The movie’s sound composition is handled by David Russo and the soundtrack is a mix of some likeable pop and rock numbers which blend in well with the overall tone of the movie.
In summary, come on, be honest… with a title like The Hottie and the Nottie, what did you expect?
From start to finish the movie is clumsy, it really isn’t humorous, it is fairly offensive (though in fairness it is trying for that) and the chemistry between the actors is almost nonexistent. It is on IMDB’s list of 100 worst ever movies and it was a total box office bomb, costing the producers a lot more to make it than what they made off it.
That should about say it all then.
Really, this movie is only fit for Paris Hilton fanatics’ consumption and the rest of us would do well to stay clear of it and rather pick some better romantic comedy up off the shelf should you be so inclined.
