COYOTE UGLY

SYNOPSIS: Violet Sanford leaves her life in New Jersey behind, moves to New York, and sets out to make it as a song writer. Out of work, luck and money, she eventually lands a job as a 'coyote' a bar dancing / sex kitten / waitress at a hot club.

BOTTOM LINE: A film that exceeds expectations by not being as painfully awful as it should have been. Sort of a female version of the utterly laughable Cruise COCKTAIL, Perabo and friends manage to retain a few shreds of acting decency despite their tiny wardrobe and hokey dialogue. Piper is so intensely cute as an aspiring songwriter trying to make it in the brutal Big Apple that you can't help but be swept along. Her naivité is a breath of fresh air, though completely unbelievable. Despite its overt sexuality, this is a fairy tale where the lovely young "princess" finds love and success at the end of her harrowing adventures. Her temporary home on the road to fame is in the raucous womb of Coyote Ugly, the most outrageous bar to ever grace the big screen. Here, the ladies sling drinks with brutal abandon and use their half-naked bodies to make their customers beg for more. It's not exactly Perabo's style, but until her music is discovered it's the only thing keeping her from the street. Her sexy behavior fails to make fans of the men in her life, who believe she's made for better things than strutting on top of a bar. That may be true, but she and her compatriots look damn good doing it. The film chugs along to its inevitable conclusion, with only the bar sequences to break up the sappiness. A sweet, meaningless, frothy chick flick.