"Coyote Ugly" is a little on the long side of running length for such a wafer-thin storyline - basically, a small town girl with dreams of making it big in NYC. The characters and their relationships with each other are not truly developed to the point of actually caring about them. Too much time is invested in showing how fun it is to work or patronize this bar, but this isn't really integral to the story. The sideshow becomes the attraction. As a result, the plot takes a back seat. almost an afterthought, and the movie suffers.
Since so much time was spent in the bar, I think the movie would have been better to keep the focus there (after all, it is the movie's title.) Develop each character in relation to their life inside the bar and forget about the drama in their lives outside of the bar (unless, of course, it affects the bar.) This would lighten the load, and more importantly, shorten the movie to a reasonable length. The other alternative, if we absolutely need to know of Violet's (Piper Perabo) personal struggles, lessen the bar scenes or find a different setting altogether. Otherwise, it just seems like trying to force a square peg into a round hole - two disparate entities that have been slapped together when either could have stood on their own. |
