The Ugly Truth – Joy

This weekend I watched The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Our Beta-Friend is Joy, played by Bree Turner. Joy is beta in every sense of the word – she is Abby’s (Heigl's) associate producer on a local morning news show and requisite bathroom buddy. Within the first 10 minutes of the film Joy is established as such when she says: “These [my breasts] have not been touched in quite some time, I have to live vicariously in your dating life and I really think this could be our next boyfriend!” She is funny, slightly more crass than Heigl's character, and is positively gleeful when watching a train wreck happen on air during the morning broadcast. She seems to take a more zen stance to the state of her singleness, and while we never really get to know her, I like her more than Abby.
Her brazenness extends to miming sex in a coffee shop, and encouraging Abby to find a mate with whom to make beautiful babies. Joy is always on top of her job, providing updates on the day-to-day that Abby, with her fixation on verbally lacerating Mike (Butler), doesn't seem to have time for.
In the inevitable and predictable ending, as Abby and Mike engage in a lovers spat on air at a hot air balloon festival, rather than shut it down, Joy keeps the camera rolling. Joy shows no regard for her "best friend's" job or reputation, only a conspiratorial "you go girl" look as Abby vents about men. In the context this does not speak well to their supposed female friendship. It is a very shallow relationship, and Joy's character is simply Abby's work friend with a so-so bitch please face:

Stats:
Screen Time: Just under 10 minutes
Snappy one-liners: "They're talking about erections, be quiet!" "[Mike was] voted most likely to get slapped in his high school yearbook"

Oh, and IMDB tells me that in an alternate ending, Joy ends up with Abby's cast-off, Colin (Eric Winter).