Coyote Ugly Details

Think Flashdance meets Cocktail and you'll have a good idea what this flashy Jerry Bruckheimer production is all about. Cute girl Violet (Piper Perabo) leaves her toll-booth-worker dad (John Goodman) and the safety of the New Jersey suburbs for the bright lights of New York City to pursue her dream of being a songwriter. Knocking on the doors of various record companies with tapes of her songs, Violet meets with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. In desperation, she lands a job at a notorious bar, Coyote Ugly, owned by Lil (Maria Bello). Based on a real-life NYC watering hole, this place makes Cheers look very sedate by comparison. Violet soon overcomes her chronic stage fright, joining other scantily-clad female bartenders who spray customers with soda water, swig back Jack Daniels and gyrate on the bar. There's some subplot involving the requisite hunky guy (Adam Garcia) but this is really just a flashy, glossy, pop-music-filled piece of fluff that may not win any critics' prizes but gets by as leave-your-brain-at-the-door, toe-tapping entertainment.

One of those romantic, innocent-makes-good, rags-to-riches plots that Hollywood has never been able to resist, though the audience may find it easier to do so.