Oh, sure, there's the semblance of a plot. Pretty Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) lives in a small Jersey town with her overprotective father (John Goodman). She dreams of becoming a songwriter and travels to the city to have a go at it. The harsh realities of city life soon hit her; in other words, she's broke and can't break into the business.

The women of Coyote Ugly

Eventually, Violet gets a job at a bar called Coyote Ugly. The place has only female bartenders - all young and sexy, all impossibly built. The owner is Lil (Maria Bello), a tough-as-nails businesswoman who insists her employees look available to the male clientele without ever being available. The other bartenders include a self-described "bitch" (Bridget Moynahan), a law student (Tyra Banks), and a flirtatious party girl (Izabella Miko). They are the stars of the bar; their antics include not only dancing on the bar while drenching themselves with water, but also setting the bar top on fire while they dance. (It's a small miracle that none of these beauties ever gets hurt.)

The subplots of the movie are pretty familiar: Violet's father disapproves of her job, a potential "big break" is blown, a vapid pretty boy (Adam Garcia) tries to win Violet's heart. All of these things are included in Coyote Ugly, but the film's reason for being is basically to be a primo showcase for T&A.

Now, here's where it gets complicated. In one sense, the movie delivers on its promise. All five of the lead actresses are incredibly easy on the eyes. They look great, wear little, and get a lot of lingering close-ups. Male viewers looking to drool over a quintet of bombshells will no doubt get their money's worth. I suppose this is the cinematic equivalent of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue: there's a pretense of seriousness, but we all know the real reason men are paying attention.

Maria Bello introduces Piper Perabo to the crowd

Then again, the stuff around the bar is pretty dull, and it often veers into the realm of the downright stupid. I could not have cared less about the romance between Violet and her boyfriend. Nor did I find her budding musical career interesting. The songs she writes are so bad that I can't imagine anyone would sing them (despite the fact that LeAnn Rimes has recorded them for the soundtrack CD). The side elements have clearly been thrown in to flesh out the bar scenes, but they're so half-heartedly done that they ultimately just intrude upon the good stuff. The filmmakers (including Jerry Bruckheimer, the infamous producer of short attention span cinema) should have done one of two things: either develop the subplots a lot more, or cut them out altogether. Either path would have vastly improved the film.

Do I recommend Coyote Ugly? Well, if all you want to do is ogle the female stars, then yes, I suppose I do. If that is your only expectation, you probably won't regret purchasing a ticket. But is this a good movie? No way. It's idiotic and predictable, with a curiously mixed message for any young female viewers who happen to be in the theater. Perabo and Bello give pretty good performances, but they don't have nearly enough to do. In fact, just about all they can do is wear short skirts and halter tops and shake it for the camera. In some regards, that's enough, and in others, it's not enough at all.

( out of four)

Coyote Ugly is rated PG-13 for sensuality. The running time is 1 hour and 35 minutes.