Coyote Ugly is the Right Kind of Solution to Boredom

Surfing the TV channels this season feels like time traveling. I can’t turn to a channel without seeing something I’ve seen before. However, tonight was an exception.

Back in 2000 I was a senior in high school until May and then I was off to school in Philadelphia in August. I didn’t see many films that year. I guess that’s how I escaped seeing Coyote Ugly. Trust me that was not the film I had intended to review for the new topic of Women Rule. But damn it, it sucked me in!

As many of you know, the movie Coyote Ugly has four beautiful women working their night’s away bartending in a dive in New York City named Coyote Ugly. The film stars Piper Parebo, as a girl from South Amboy, New Jersey. She works in a pizzeria by day and dreams of a singing career by night. She lives at home with her father, played by John Goodman.

With the onset of her best friend’s engagement, Violet (Parebo) figures it’s now or never to go after her dream. She moves to the big city into a roach motelish apartment. Shortly after moving in she is robbed of her belongings and the money roll in her freezer. When she goes into a diner for some pie, she witnesses the talent of the Coyote Ugly women at work. The owner gives her a matchbook from the bar and the rest is history.

After a few bumpy mishaps, like hosing down the fire marshal with seltzer water, Violet takes over the place of Tyra Banks’ character, Zoe. In no time she’s shaken her money maker for nice tips.

Although, she’s working nights she rarely looks sleep deprived. She even finds time to play cat n mouse with a cutie named Kevin O’Donnell, played by Adam Garcia. But this guy is more than a pretty face. He becomes the missing link in Violet’s pursuit of happiness.

Like many women, young and old, Violet lacks confidence in her talent. Through the course of the film her sparring with Kevin leads her to the realization that fame won’t find her unless she looks for it. By the end of the film we finally get to hear the music that has been mentioned for the past hour and forty minutes.

I liked because it was on and I needed something to watch. But it goes a little deeper than that. The movie does have a positive message of going after what you want. The women are strong, independent, and sassy.

As for my personal interest in the movie, it touches close to home. I’m from Atlantic City, NJ and I know what it’s like to want to move to NYC. My first college choice was NYU, but that was way too expensive for me. So I put off moving to my mother’s home town. However, now that I’m grown, I often wonder what it would be like to move there. Then I think about how many people live there. Even though I love visiting, I’m not sure I could easily give up my suburban, ocean locale. But you know there’s always L.A.