Gerard Butler’s $205M Rom-Com Enjoys Streaming Resurgence 15 Years Later

Gerard Butler continues to be a fixture of Hollywood movies. These days, Butler is best known as an action star. He recently appeared in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025), with past action flicks including Kandahar (2023), Plane (2023), and the Has Fallen franchise, among many others. Prior to leaning into his action hero persona, however, Butler was also a common sight in romantic comedy movies.

After a string of Butler action movies, including Reign of Fire (2002) and 300 (2006), 2007’s P.S. I Love You marked one of the actor’s first romantic comedies, with the movie featuring him starring opposite Hilary Swank. He would go on to appear in rom-coms like The Bounty Hunter (2010) and Playing for Keeps (2012). One of Butler’s biggest outings in the romantic comedy space, however, arrived in 2009, and the movie is now experiencing a resurgence in popularity on streaming.

The Ugly Truth Is A Streaming Hit

Gerard Butler’s 2009 Rom-Com Is Dominating Hulu

The Ugly Truth

has become a major success on Hulu more than 15 years after it was first released. Directed by Robert Luketic, the film features Katherine Heigl as Abby Richter, an uptight morning show producer who takes control of a segment of the show about modern relationships. Butler plays the role of Mike Chadway, the segment’s misogynist host. Though The Ugly Truth may not have fared well with critics and most almost universally panned, it was a major box office success, grossing $205 million worldwide.

Related

10 Best Movies From The Golden Age Of Rom-Coms, Ranked

The Golden Age of Rom-Coms occurred from the late 1980s to the early 2000s and featured some of the best romantic comedies ever released.

New data from Hulu reveals that, as of writing, The Ugly Truth ranks as the sixth most popular movie on the streaming service. The romantic comedy beats movies like Premonition (2007), The Truman Show (1998), and another rom-com with The Proposal (2009). The Ugly Truth falls short of other titles like Longlegs (2024), Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024), and Monster Hunter (2020), with Anora (2024) occupying the top position. Check out the full top 10 list below:

What The Ugly Truth’s Streaming Success Means For Gerard Butler

Butler Continues To Be An Audience Draw

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Ugly Truth has a critics’ score of only 14%, with reviews criticizing the film for its abundance of rom-com clichés and by-the-numbers script. The audience score, however, is 60%, and it’s clear from the movie’s box office that the film was far more well-received by general moviegoers. The same can be said for many Butler movies. Though there are certainly titles that break through critically, Butler is an actor who is a draw for audiences, and his face on The Ugly Truth‘s Hulu tile could be enough to get users to click on it.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera just recently released in theaters, and, with upcoming movies like Greenland: Migration and Night Has Fallen, Butler continues to be very active as an actor. An added bonus for The Ugly Truth is that it’s a romantic comedy, a genre that doesn’t really exist theatrically anymore. While Butler may not have any rom-coms on the horizon, The Ugly Truth‘s streaming success suggests there is still interest in the genre when it features the right stars.

Source: Hulu

Movie

My Favorite Movies
My Watchlist

The Ugly Truth

Release Date

July 24, 2009

Runtime

96 Minutes

Director

Robert Luketic

Writers

Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz

• 
• 

  Gerard Butler

  Mike Chadway

• 
•