Coyote Ugly (2000)

22% of critics liked it
(95 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(637,140 ratings)

An aspiring musician becomes one of the most famous bartenders in New York in this high-spirited comedy-drama. Small-town girl Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) dreams of making a name for herself as a singer and songwriter, so she moves to New York City in hopes of landing her big break. Needing to… More An aspiring musician becomes one of the most famous bartenders in New York in this high-spirited comedy-drama. Small-town girl Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) dreams of making a name for herself as a singer and songwriter, so she moves to New York City in hopes of landing her big break. Needing to support herself until stardom rolls around, she takes a job as a barmaid at a new nightspot called Coyote Ugly, where the owner Lil (Maria Bello) and the staff of attractive young women dance on the bar, flirt with the mostly male clientele, sing along with the jukebox, and goad the customers into matching them shot for shot. Soon, local media pick up on the bar's success, turning the staff into unexpected celebrities, a situation that presents its own set of problems. Coyote Ugly also stars John Goodman as Violet's straight-laced father, Adam Garcia as a customer Violet becomes involved with, and Tyra Banks, Melanie Lynskey, Bridget Moynahan, and Izabella Miko as the barmaids; action-film titan Jerry Bruckheimer produced. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: David McNally (II)
Written By: Gina Wendkos, Jeff Nathanson
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 4, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Dec 29, 2000
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures

Critic Reviews

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coyote Ugly is profoundly stupid, earnestly inept at conveying a story and hellbent on wallowing in its shallow emotional manipulations.
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
It goes down easy, like a wine-cooler shot with a chaser of Yoo-Hoo.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
Its view of women as objectified but unavailable sex toys is so retrograde it would be maddening if the movie weren't such an utter piece of fluff so conceptually barren it might as well be a music video.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Does Jerry Bruckheimer have the same nagging feeling of deja vu as he compares each new screenplay to those that have gone before?
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Sexist, shallow and silly. Teens+.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
When you add up all the cliches and the sweet, no-worries-to-speak-of plot, it comes out to be a hefty price to pay for an evening of cinema.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
The strangely appealing silliness of Coyote Ugly ain't over till the fat guy dirty dances.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
The cast fleshes out the cliches exuberantly and with little irony, which is something of a relief.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
As slick and mindless as one might expect...
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
There were certain aspects that I loved.... It had to do with hot, sexy women dancing on a bar in a wet T-shirt contest.
Brent Simon, Now Playing Magazine
You can likely glean the same sort of entertainment value from a dozen seconds of intent staring at the poster or video box cover.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
Since the movie is all noise and lights, it's hard to tell where more noise and lights have been added.... (Unrated Extended Cut)
Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
What an amazingly bad movie this is.
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com
A movie about a bunch of effortlessly attractive, empty-headed people who manage to constantly have fun at even the most menial of jobs . . . give me some reason to care!

Read all 14 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bethany M

A classic!
Wildaly M

The parts with the dancing at the bar are mildly entertaining. The rest is predictable, sappy and forgettable. Nothing special here.
Christopher A

Coyote Ugly is a film I first watched as a 15 year old and loved it (I wonder why..). 10 years on and slightly less superficial, i'm left watching a chick flick that really doesnt have much subtance and is ever so dissapointing. We follow Violet Sanford, moving to the big city… More
Coyote Ugly is a film I first watched as a 15 year old and loved it (I wonder why..). 10 years on and slightly less superficial, i'm left watching a chick flick that really doesnt have much subtance and is ever so dissapointing. We follow Violet Sanford, moving to the big city and trying to make it as a singer/songwriter. Apart from the dancing girls, this film doesnt have alot going for it with predictable events, lots of dull singing on the roof moments and zero laughs. "Jim, Jack, Johnny Red, Johnny Black, and Jose; all my favorite men. You can have it any way you like it, as long as it's in a shot glass."
Martin S

Not really a spectacular movie. Average acting. A story that I didn't really feel I care about. I wish her all the luck with her music carrer...But she doesn't need to tell me about it. Wouldn't watch it again.
Veronique K

i remeber i used to see it when my sister and all the other females around urged me to see it with them (female peer pressure, i suppose)...in an age when i could not make much of a decision for myself, even upon a petite thing like movie-viewing...and i could recall right now is how… More
i remeber i used to see it when my sister and all the other females around urged me to see it with them (female peer pressure, i suppose)...in an age when i could not make much of a decision for myself, even upon a petite thing like movie-viewing...and i could recall right now is how plain piper perabo was and a girl with mousy stage-fright. and those models from victoria's secret stepped into the picture to give an exhibition on the bar-table with an attitude like "i'm a model, and i'm supposed to be so hot and you're supposed to look at me" faux-spunk. a decade passes, tyra banks tries to be ophera now with her talk show and america' next top model.(AH, models are bores) memories went stale. adam garcis still does his "hulky boy next door" routine repeatedly in various romantic melodramas, so? anyway, even thinking of it makes me so bored that i have to write it out to say how bored i get.
Jason O

Jersey (Piper Perabo) has a dream of being a successful songwriter. She wants big-name artists to one day, sing the songs that she writes, but she finds out from the start that the music business is not easy, to say the least. She begins working in a bar, which is a little out of her… More
Jersey (Piper Perabo) has a dream of being a successful songwriter. She wants big-name artists to one day, sing the songs that she writes, but she finds out from the start that the music business is not easy, to say the least. She begins working in a bar, which is a little out of her normal personality range, and she even thinks about giving up on her dreams once or twice, but with the support of her boyfriend and her dad, maybe she'll still have a shot. Before watching "Coyote Ugly," I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard a few people say that it wasn't that good, so I guess I sort of expected not to like it much, but I went ahead and watched it anyway. Contrary to what I had heard, it turned out to be pretty good, in my opinion. Granted, the story seems overly formulaic, and it might be, but the movie itself is very entertaining. I didn't get bored any and I wanted to see how it turned out, so it couldn't have been that bad of a movie. Everybody in the film does a decent enough job of acting, and "Coyote Ugly" also has a good soundtrack. You'll get to hear a lot of good music throughout the film, so that's definitely a plus that it has going for it. If you like entertaining movies about struggle and/or triumph and if you like movies with good soundtracks, then I recommend at least watching "Coyote Ugly," if not buying it. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2001. I don't remember the movie as fondly now...actually I don't remember it much at all, which is never a good sign.
Jennifer X

Every time this movie plays on tv, I NEED to watch it, if not just to see Tyra Banks dance on top of the table for the thousandth. I know, I'm obsessed.
Film C

i really enjoyed this film i thought it was entertaining and really good well worth a watch
Josh L

Pointless, shallow, and annoying with a horrible script.
Candy R

Good music. Okay acting. About a quiet girl who goes to the big city. Ends up in a bar dancing.
Sophie B

not such a great film, not the type of thing i'd like to watch again! quite boring actually!
Rachel F

Love this movie. Piper Perabo is great.
Curtis L

they're soooo hot. HA! This movie can suck it.
Michael S

Guilty Pleasure in every sense of the word.
Dean M

These sexy female bartendars are hotter in the New York sleazy bar as this feel-good <i>Flashdance</i> meets <i>Showgirls</i> melodrama film.
Tim B

I read a review of this movie somewhere that is better than anything I could say about it (probably from Maxim or FHM, or something like that): "Never have I seen so much titilation, with so little tit". Guys, don't be fooled by your girlfriends / wives. There is… More
I read a review of this movie somewhere that is better than anything I could say about it (probably from Maxim or FHM, or something like that): "Never have I seen so much titilation, with so little tit". Guys, don't be fooled by your girlfriends / wives. There is nothing in this movie for the dudes.
Drew S

You'd either have to be a thirteen year old girl or a terminally horny male to enjoy this piece of crap movie. Seriously, this should have signaled an end to the careers of every single actress involved.
danny d

john goodman and tyra banks are the only good things about this flick
Jason S

Not bad.
Leigh R

I liked it.