Coyote Ugly (101 minutes) - by Amanda Kusek
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If I wanted to explain the year 2000 to an alien (or say, someone from Gen-Z) I’d simply hand them a copy of Coyote Ugly and walk away. Ok, that’s definitely an exaggeration because this movie is whitewashed from beginning to end… BUT it is a depiction of a particular taste and a particular fantasy at a particular time. Which was fluffy, silly, and hopeful. We were having a good fucking time in 2000! The Twin Towers were still up and smartphones hadn’t yet started to eat away at our brains and personalities. This was the year “Thong Song” came in at number 14 on Billboard’s Top 100. FOURTEEN. To be clear “The Real Slim Shady” came in at 51, “Oops, I Did It Again” was 55, and “The Next Episode” was 76.
Here’s a moment of silence to let that sink in.
Coyote Ugly (2000, 101 minutes) was a sleepover movie. No. It was THE sleepover movie. There was nothing better than a bowl of popcorn, your best girlfriends, and the allure of one day being able to move to New York City to “make it”. (I usually blame Sex and the City for my NYC indoctrination, but upon further reflection it was perhaps this movie and Piper Perabo in a crop top.)
The plot is simple. Very simple. Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) is a good Jersey girl who dreams of making it big in the city as a songwriter. She packs up her things and says goodbye to father (John Goodman) and best friend (Melanie Lynskey) to strike out on her own in a Chinatown apartment painted red. She quickly discovers the city is tough (aw, shit!) and after being turned down by every record company and being robbed, decides she needs to make some money at a risque village bar called Coyote Ugly. She meets a charming Australian man who adds very little to the plot and finds her “voice” along the way. (Aw.)
Research on this movie led me to some chaotic findings. To me, this was just a summer sleepover movie, but there’s so much more going on in the background. The first being that the movie is based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s life. Yes, Miss Eat-Pray-Love herself. Gilbert wrote a piece for GQ in 1997 about her time as a Coyote. The piece is so good I stopped writing for a solid 15 minutes to just read and enjoy it. You can see the basic elements and plot points of the movie in the article, actually more than I could have imagined. The one element that is seemingly random is the musical aspect of the whole thing.
It wasn’t until I rewatched it now that I realized it is a musical. I guess the songs were so poppy I didn’t notice. I was also 12 and I still thought all musicals were just versions of Hello, Dolly. (This would change when I would go see Rent in Boston when I was 14.) For Coyote Ugly, producer Jerry Bruckheimer enlisted songwriting legend Diane Warren and 17-year-old LeAnn Rimes to create four original songs for Violet to write and sing in the movie. “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” was a legitimate bop and would eventually land at No. 11 on the Billboard charts. Apparently, Piper Perabo can really sing (though has anyone ever heard her?) but for the final cut of the movie they dubbed over her with Rimes’ voice. I am not sure if this was because Perabo was weak or if they thought the movie and song would sell better if they were identical.
The movie has a weird meta moment at the end where LeAnn Rimes holds her CD release party for “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” at Coyote Ugly after Violet apparently sells it to Rimes’ label. They sing on top of the bar together. And now knowing the Perabo was dubbed over, it makes the duet very uncanny because Rimes is essentially dueting herself. This moment also confused the shit out of my husband and it brought me a lot of joy to see him pause the movie to work it all out.
Speaking of confusing… While the script is decent it can also feel choppy and overdone at times. The biggest blunder seems to be two set-ups for Violet’s father Bill (Goodman) and only one pay-off. We are reminded no less than four times that Bill is on a diet, that he needs to eat better, and that he needs to take care of his heart. We are shown, again no less than four times, that he is not following his diet once Violet moves out. He is chowing down on McDonald’s and KFC. Simultaneously, we learn that he works in a toll booth and that it’s “dangerous.” Fast forward to our climax and Violet must rush to his side after he is hit by a speeding car.
Right.
So why set-up the eating? The health issue is a much better set-up because Violet feels like she has control over this. If Bill were to have a heart attack, it would be a greater force of guilt to drive her back home and away from her dreams. Girl has no control over idiot drivers on the Jersey Turnpike. But the filmmakers choose a car accident! Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the movie was written by like EIGHT different writers. Including Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can), Kevin Smith (!!!), and my favorite script doctor Carrie Fisher. Ultimately the original writer Gina Wendkos (The Princess Diaries) would get the credit. But I have to consider that this many hands on the script potentially left some threads in the plot. I mean, I don’t want to speak ill of Miss Fisher who is basically a personal hero at this point, but… did you guys just leave all that in for more Goodman time?
I get it… he was the biggest name attached to the movie so the more screen time the better. I think you could argue his performance is the best (my husband did) and it is great! But I love Maria Bello in this picture. She carries the bar scenes on her back because everyone else gives so little. (Bridget Moynahan as tough-ass, leather clad Rachel, is another bright spot. And we all know Tyra basically steals the entire movie with 4 minutes of screen time.) Bello plays Lil, Coyote Ugly’s owner and “original Coyote” as she puts it. Lil is based on Liliana Lovell the real life owner of the East VIllage’s real life Coyote Ugly. She’s the only character in the movie based on a real person. And judging from Gilbert’s original GQ piece, Bello nails it. She is a quick wit with zero sentimentalism. She is the bar and the bar is her. No division. It is Lil who thankfully explains for all of us 12-year-olds watching what Coyote Ugly means: “Did you ever wake up sober after a one night stand, and the person you're next to is layin' on your arm, and they're so ugly, you'd rather chew off your arm then risk waking 'em? That's coyote ugly.”
Man, I couldn’t wait to grow up and be a mess in New York City!
Weighing this movie down considerably is the performances of Piper Perabo and Adam Garcia (who plays Violet’s love interest Kevin O'Donnell). Perabo would go on to be nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on Covert Affairs but I am just not convinced by her in this one. I know that’s sort of blasphemous considering it is her breakout role, but she comes off a little lame. Honestly, the entire time we were watching this movie we kept thinking of Delaney Rowe on Tik Tok who is known for her comedic portrayals of Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Insufferable Female Indie Leads. Perabo is trying just a bit too hard to be quirky. However, we have to take what we can get since every leading pop star at the time was considered for the role first. ( 😣) Garcia, while incredibly handsome, is just… fine. And he of course would go on to be the uncredited voice of Kangaroo Jack in Kangaroo Jack. No more comments here.
The movie could have survived without the romantic element anyway and may have been a more interesting story of friendship without Kevin. He encourages Violet almost to the point of obsessiveness and is a little problematic when it comes to her work at the Coyote Ugly. He takes the low road when they’re arguing on the street after Violet blows off an open mic night Kevin has set up for her. This fight, however TOXIC, is as complex as the movie gets. We’re able to see both sides of the argument. Violet is super lame for continuing to claim she can’t sing her own songs on a stage because of “genetic stage fright” but Kevin is controlling and pushing her when she doesn’t want to be pushed and is condescending when it comes to her work at the bar, “Unbutton your blouse a little, unzip the pants, show a little flesh go on your fans are waiting for you to crawl on the bar.” Yikes. Tell us how you really feel Mr. O’Donnell.
The men in this movie spend a lot of time telling Violet that they disagree with her lifestyle. Bill, her dad, eventually apologizes and comes around to it. But this element of the story feels incredibly dated. In 2000, it’s only okay to work at the Coyote Ugly if you have alternate dreams and something you’re working for. Otherwise you’re just a girl on top of a bar. Never mind the fact that they’re pulling like $2,500 a week in tips. If I had the energy, the knees, and the rhythm I’d be down there auditioning today. (I’ve never actually been to the original location in New York City but I’ve been to Flaming Saddles, so I get the gist.)
Sprinkled into this is a wild combination of cameos - Johnny Knoxville, Michael Bay. And supporting cast - Tyra Banks, Ellen Cleghorne, John Fugelsang. Which is both baffling and silly to watch as an adult. And the costuming is a perfect time capsule back to a time when bedazzled American flag t-shirts from Wal-Mart and giant belt buckles were stylish and low rise leather pants were trending even though 1% of the population could pull them off. It was kind of a lawless time when you really consider it. But at 12 years old I wanted nothing more than to live in my own dingy apartment and figure out my life on my own. And I did do this. I moved to NYC with a couple hundred dollars to my name, no job, few skills, and sadly, no leather pants. But it worked out in the end. Maybe not as well as it did for Violet who sold her first song in under a year…. and I run a Substack after being here for 13. But success is all relative anyway. Just ask Kevn O’Donnell.
(Special thanks to Mamamia for most of the trivia that I corroborated with other sources.)
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