Coyote Ugly (2000)

ROMANTIC COMEDY: (2000, PG-13.) Violet, a working-class girl with dreams of being a songwriter, moves from South Amboy, NJ to a cheap apartment in New York’s Chinatown where she is promptly robbed and rejected by the music industry. She lands a job in raucous bar where the girls flirt, tease, strut, dance on the bar dressed like soft-core strippers, pour straight shots, act obnoxious and occasionally auction off men. She also meets Kevin in another bar. He tries to help her overcome her stage fright of singing her own songs. Her supportive father is shocked by her job. After submitting a CD to a songwriter’s concert, she becomes a star. She is reconciled with both Kevin and her father.

VIOLENCE/SCARINESS: A few pushing matches and an occasional punch in the bar. Kevin has a cut lip after a fight. Violet’s father is injured (off-screen) in a car accident – we only see him afterwards in a hospital in a cast and with bruises.

CRIMES: Burglary (U).

MORALS, ISSUES & VALUES: Young Violet overcomes many difficulties and finally achieves her dream and the approval of her overprotective and worried father. When he sees her dancing and being wetted down on the bar, her father is ashamed of her (however, later he willingly participates in some of the bar’s activities). While her boyfriend, Kevin, encourages and helps her, she essentially achieves her goals on her own. While Violet lives in New York’s Chinatown, she never interacts with even one Chinese. Violet apparently has stage fright because she believes her mother did (which she didn’t). Before Violet begins her new job, she says, “Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned.” Language: mild vulgarity and mild profanity.

SEXUALITY & GENDER ISSUES: Single parent family. Contemporary gender roles. The bar is owned by a woman, Lila, who almost puts the business above friendship to other women. Kevin and Violet have sex without benefit of marriage (nothing is seen). Kevin is auctioned off in the bar, presumably to have sex with his buyer. While many of the women are proud of their jobs and their power over men, they still treat themselves as sex objects for men (and women) to ogle at (which the camera does a lot of). (When Violet first sees them, she thinks they are hookers.) However, there is a huge bouncer around to get them out of trouble if they go too far. One girl, having earned enough money at the bar, goes off to law school. Violet’s father is loving and hesitatingly supportive. She returns his love. Some mild sexual talk and mild sexual innuendo.

SUBSTANCES: Considerable drinking – much of the action takes place in a bar packed full of thirsty, howling and drunk customers. Drinking is seen as a sign of maturity and strength. The girls occasionally pour whisky on the bar and light it. Before getting a job, Violet has to prove to Lila that she doesn’t use drugs.

COMMENTS: Violet overcomes her own fears to achieve success. Unfortunately, the environment in which this happens does not make this a great film for kids. While her father initially objects to Violet’s job in a bar, and she later quits, the film still glorifies both the bar and drinking – it is a place that is not only fun, but also where friends are made and problems solved. Parents beware of this loud, gaudy, ultimately ugly film.

STARRING: Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello, Izabella Miko, Bridget Moynahan, Tyra Banks, John Goodman, Melanie Lynskey, Adam Alexi-Malle.

ALTERNATES: This film is similar to “Flashdance” but in this film Violet solves her own problems rather than depending on a man for answers.