Coyote Ugly
Coyote Ugly is a 2000 comedy-drama film about songwriter Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) who moves to New York City to try to make it big with her music. She ends up getting a job at a woman-run bar prominently featuring scantily clad bar-dancers teasing the male patrons. She eventually comes out of her shell with the help of her Australian boyfriend (Adam Garcia) and the girls at Coyote Ugly.
Notorious for its bait-and-switch trailer, which led viewers to believe the movie would be 90 minutes of T&A and sexy adventures, while the actual movie is a Chick Flick through and through.
Tropes used in Coyote Ugly include:
- Bachelor Auction - first, Violet auctions off her boyfriend to repay a fine she'd caused; then, at the movie's end, she uses another Bachelor Auction as an excuse for her father to hook up with a cute redhead in whom he's interested and who's there with him, but whom he's too anxious about asking out.
- Bar Brawl - on a couple of occasions, during one of which the jukebox is broken at the climax.
- Cold Cash - Violet's friend tosses a wad of cash in her freezer 'in case of an emergency'.
- Country Mouse - Violet.
- Discreet Drink Disposal - Cammy teaches Violet a neat way of doing this.
- Failed Audition Plot - Violet mails her demos to various record labels after moving to New York to pursue a career in the music business, only to have them all returned with no sign of interest. Working at the Coyote Ugly helps to give her the courage she needs to continue trying.
- Fan Service with a Smile - the bar seems to run on this.
- Faux Yay - the coyotes play up everything, including how physically intimate they are with one another.
- Flair Bartending
- Meaningful Name - The violet is the state flower of New Jersey, the heroine's state of origin.
- Non-Actor Vehicle - Arguably, Leann Rimes. Though she only appeared in the film for a short cameo, the film very prominently featured her music, to the point where it seems to be a vehicle for her sound.
- Rip Tailoring - Violet's first shift at the bar begins with Lil, the owner, ripping off her sleeves and the bottom two inches of her shirt, leaving her in something much more revealing and appropriate to the bar.
- Suffers Newbies Poorly - Rachel. Early on, she tries to get Violet fired (and very nearly succeeds). Then, at the end of the movie, when another new coyote is having trouble mastering the art of Flair Bartending, she declares "Hey, Lil! I don't think your new girl's gonna hack it!", before smiling at Violet as if to say "You, on the other hand, are all right in my book."