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"COYOTE UGLY"
(2000) (Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia) (PG-13)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Heavy Minor Moderate None None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Moderate None None *Minor Mild
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Moderate Minor Mild Moderate Mild


QUICK TAKE:
Drama/Romantic Comedy: A small town girl heads to New York City to pursue her dreams of becoming a songwriter but ends up getting sidetracked by her job as a sexy barmaid at a rowdy and notorious bar owned and run by women.
PLOT:
Violet Sanford (PIPER PERABO) is a 21-year-old aspiring songwriter who's decided to leave her small New Jersey town and her overprotective, single father, Bill (JOHN GOODMAN), for a shot at success in the Big Apple. Driven there by her best friend, Gloria (MELANIE LYNSKEY), Violet sets out to storm the record industry with her various ditties.

Unfortunately, she runs into the typical closed doors and setbacks, and even mistakes a restaurant worker, Kevin O'Donnell (ADAM GARCIA), for an industry insider. To make matters worse, her dungy apartment is broken into and all of her cash is stolen. She gets a break, however, when she happens to overhear several attractive young women, Zoe (TYRA BANKS), Rachel (BRIDGET MOYNAHAN) and Cammie (IZABELLA MIKO), comment on the money they made the night before and the fact that Zoe is leaving their fold.

Learning that they're "coyotes" - so named for the notorious bar, "Coyote Ugly," where they work as sassy, strutting bartenders - Violet meets the owner, Lil (MARIA BELLO), and manages to get a job there. Although she's taken aback by the wild, near stripper like atmosphere where the ladies tease and taunt their largely male clientele by dancing, strutting and cavorting atop the bar, Violet soon figures out how to fit in.

She also begins to fall for Kevin, an Aussie who's charmed her from the beginning and pushes her to follow her songwriting dream. The only problem is her crippling case of stage fright when it comes to singing her own songs and the fact that she must perform them in public to be noticed as a songwriter. As Violet attempts to do just that, she must contend with her romance with Kevin, her father's reaction to where she works, and the wild antics and demands of her stint as the newest "coyote."

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Teenage girls might be drawn by the romance angle and strong female cast, while many teenage boys will likely be drawn by the ads depicting those sensuous and attractive women dancing and cavorting about in the bar.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13
For sensuality.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • PIPER PERABO plays a 21-year-old aspiring songwriter who's moved to the big city to pursue her dream. While doing so, she ends up getting a bartender job where such employees are expected to dance and prance around for their clientele in what's essentially a soft-core strip club. She eventually does just that, uses some brief profanity, and ends up sleeping with Kevin all while attempting to overcome stage fright so that she can pursue her dream.
  • ADAM GARCIA plays a transplanted Aussie who holds down many jobs, falls for Violet and eventually beds her. He does seem to genuinely care about her and pushes her to succeed in her dream.
  • MARIA BELLO plays the bar's tough but vivacious owner who teaches Violet the ropes but reprimands her when she goofs up or breaks the rules. She uses some brief profanity.
  • JOHN GOODMAN plays Violet's overprotective, single father who worries about his daughter in the big city and is then ashamed of what she's become in the bar.
  • TYRA BANKS, BRIDGET MOYNAHAN and IZABELLA MIKO play Violet's coworkers who also tease and flirt with the clientele while dancing and cavorting on the bar for their pleasure.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a brief summary of the content found in this drama/romantic comedy that's been rated PG-13. Many scenes showcase the various female bartenders who dance, strut and occasionally sensuously dance on top of a bar in front of rowdy and inebriated men (and the camera) who ogle both their bodies (often in skintight or revealing clothing) and/or "dance" moves.

    A sexual encounter is implied and we see some playful/sensuous stripping/foreplay before it (as well as a scantily clad woman), while various non-explicit, sexually related bits of dialogue are also present. Profanity consists of several uses of the "s" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also used.

    A heavy amount of drinking takes place in the bar and other locales, various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, and several fights break out in the bar but aren't graphic or particularly brutal/vicious. Some tense family moments are present, while some of the bartenders engage in behavior that impressionable kids might want/try to imitate. Should you still be concerned about the film and its appropriateness for anyone in your home who wishes to see it, you may want to take a closer look at our detailed content listings for specific examples of what occurs in the film.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • Every scene set in the bar - of which there are many - features patrons drinking beer and hard liquor who are all at various stages of being intoxicated. In addition, the various bartenders appear to be drinking shots as well (and Violet does so at the beginning but we then learn the others' secret - they drink the shots but then spit them out into empty beer bottles that they pretend to drink from) and occasionally pour liquor straight into the patrons' mouths and/or onto their bodies as well.
  • People also have drinks in a different club.
  • People have drinks in another club.
  • Lil asks Violet if she does any drugs and the young woman replies that coffee is all that she can afford.
  • The bartenders pour alcohol across the top of the bar and then ignite it (sending a flame racing down it).
  • We see that Bill is having a beer with dinner.
  • Rachel spits liquor from her mouth over an open flame, creating a blowtorch of sorts from her mouth.
  • People have drinks in another club.
  • People have drinks in a club where Violet performs.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • Kevin has a tiny bit of a bloody lip after getting into a fight.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Some viewers may be offended by the meat market atmosphere of the central bar where the female bartenders are present to flirt, tease and strut their stuff (often in a stripper-like fashion) for their mostly male and usually inebriated clientele.
  • A friend of Kevin's jokingly misleads Violet by telling her that Kevin is a record industry insider (causing her to believe him).
  • Some men heckle Violet as she tries to perform a song in public at an open mike night.
  • We see that someone has broken into and ransacked Violet's place and stolen her money.
  • Violet lets Kevin down (by not showing up) as he was trying to help her with an audition.
  • A man heckles Violet as she performs.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • None.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Shut up," "Knocked up" (pregnant), "Punks," "Bitch," "What the hell is that?" and "Damn you."
  • We see that Cammie has a tattoo on her upper thigh/side of her butt (and later see that Lil has one around her arm).
  • The bartenders pour alcohol across the top of the bar and then ignite it (sending a flame racing down it) and acrobatically spin and flip their bottles of liquor around.
  • We see that Kevin uses a fake "boot" on his car tire to fool the police and prevent them from giving him a ticket (or really booting his car).
  • Rachel spits liquor from her mouth over an open flame, creating a blowtorch of sorts from her mouth.
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • One song contains 2 uses of S.O.B., another includes the lines "Pour some sugar on it...in the name of love" (which could mean many things), another has the line, "I need you tonight" (also open to interpretation) and another has the lines, "All she wants to do is dance...and make romance," while other songs had lyrics that couldn't be understood.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 3 "s" words (with another possible one muffled by crowd noise at our screening), 15 hells, 5 asses, 2 damns, 2 S.O.B.s, 2 uses each of "G-damn" and "God" and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes" and "Oh my God" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • Gloria shows some cleavage in the outfit she wears.
  • Among the things that Gloria states that she and Violet didn't manage to follow through on was remaining virgins until they were married to others.
  • A record industry woman that Violet meets goes on a rant about getting "knocked up" when she was a teen and that her now grownup daughter has just announced that she's a bisexual.
  • Violet tells Kevin that she hasn't had anyone stare at her "ass" for 30 minutes. He clarifies that by saying that he was only staring at it for the first fifteen minutes.
  • Cammie shows cleavage when we first see her, and she, Zoe and Rachel are looking through a porno magazine, making a bet about the "likes" of the centerfold (however, we don't see any of the pictures).
  • We see that Cammie has a tattoo on her upper thigh/side of her butt (and we see that part of her body as she shows off the tattoo).
  • Lil tells Violet that their average male patron is essentially walking around with a toddler in his pants that controls them (a penis reference) and that "the kids" will enjoy the fact that Violet looks like a kindergarten teacher.
  • We see the various "coyote" bartenders dancing and strutting atop the bar often wearing tight and/or revealing clothing in a fashion equivalent to soft-core strippers. While doing so, they show varying degrees of cleavage and other parts of their bodies (although nothing too explicit and no direct nudity) as the camera often focuses solely on their gyrating bodies.
  • Lil introduces Violet as "Jersey" and states that she's an escaped nun from a convent who's tired of being the only virgin in New York City.
  • After Cammie proclaims that she's a "tease," Lil says that she can't be considered that if she doesn't stop sleeping around.
  • As Violet changes clothes, we see very brief and only partial glimpses of her in her bra and panties.
  • Cammie says that she and her boyfriend had a fight, but then "made up…twice."
  • As Cammie helps Violet pick out a new wardrobe, Violet comments on one article that has a zippered crotch. We then see a sideways silhouette of Violet's body that focuses on her chest.
  • After Cammie tells Violet how to avoid getting drunk at the bar, Violet is grateful and says that she loves Cammie for that. Misunderstanding that, Cammie says that she's not a lesbian, and while she "played in the minors," she's not a "pro."
  • Kevin does an impromptu striptease of sorts on the bar top (including rubbing his own nipples, removing his shirt, etc.) when Violet suddenly auctions him off at the bar.
  • Lil explains the bar's name by saying that after one wakes up from a one-night stand and sees their arm around their unattractive "date," they'd rather gnaw off the arm than wake them.
  • Kevin tells Violet that he wants what every guy wants at three-thirty in the morning, and after a pause, states that it's breakfast (she was thinking of something else).
  • After Violet hops on the bar top and begins singing along (in a sexy manner) to a song on the jukebox, Cammie states that everyone there "wanted" her, even the women. Lil then chimes in that there "wasn't a dry seat in the house."
  • Trying to explain to Kevin what her stage fright feels like, Violet tells him that she has to make him nervous to get him to understand. As such, she then proceeds to playfully/suggestively strip behind some large cardboard cutouts (while talking about one's heart racing and body shaking, etc.) while he watches. We then see her in her panties and a tank top. She describes more symptoms that include the fact that she loses control, he asks how long that lasts, and she replies "Sometimes, all night." We then see them kiss and remove his shirt. We then see him in bed afterwards (with the sheets barely covering his crotch area) until he joins her behind the keyboard where she has a sheet wrapped around her. Noting the cardboard cutouts of celebrities that are facing them, he replies that they (the cutouts) got more than they paid for (referring to the sex and/or fooling around that took place).
  • We briefly see Cammie remove her top down to just her bra during a softball game to distract the pitcher.
  • The various "coyotes" suggestively pour water down their bodies as they do their sensuous dance on the bar top, while various women pull of their bras (still wearing their tops) and throw them around.
  • As Violet dances on the bar top, an older man gets up there with her and briefly runs his hands along her body.
  • SMOKING
  • A life-size, cardboard cutout of James Dean shows the actor holding a cigarette.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • We learn that Violet's mother died a few years before the story begins and both she and Bill occasionally talk about her.
  • Violet's dad gets mad and disappointed with her once he sees where she works and what she does (and won't speak to her for a while after that).
  • Violet gets a call that her dad is in the hospital, but he turns out to be okay (other than a broken leg).
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • Violet's stage fright and how it nearly paralyzes her chances of success.
  • The way in which the bartenders are simultaneously portrayed as brassy, strong-willed women and then nothing but objects of desire for drunken, rowdy men.
  • VIOLENCE
  • We see that someone has broken into and ransacked Violet's place.
  • Some men briefly struggle in the bar until Violet persuades them to stop.
  • Some more men get into a fight in the bar and the scene starts to get ugly as Cammie can't get away from a crowd of men (this stops when Violet begins singing along with the jukebox).
  • Seeing an older man running his hands along Violet's body, Kevin pulls him down onto the bar and then into the crowd where he proceeds to hit him. More fighting then breaks out and some people smash into a jukebox, breaking its glass front. The bouncer then manhandles Kevin as he escorts him out of the bar.
  • Rachel backhands a man who was heckling Violet.



  • Reviewed August 1, 2000 / Posted August 4, 2000

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