How to Be Single: Movie Review
Valentine’s Day is this week, and that means that there needs to be at least one romantic-comedy arriving at your local multiplex. After all, not every woman out there has the desire to see “Deadpool”. To fill the rom-com void, we have “How to Be Single”, which stars Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, and Alison Brie. Yes, the film sports a talented cast, but the paint-by-numbers plot, and tired jokes make it difficult to find much of anything to enjoy.
“How to Be Single” centers on Alice (Johnson), a young college graduate who moves to New York City and crashes with her older sister Meg (Mann). Alice and her boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) take a break from their relationship so Alice can find herself. In the process of finding herself she finds other men as well. They include a widowed father (Damon Wayans Jr) and a bar owner (Anders Holm), who only sleeps with women but doesn’t have relationships with them. Alice also becomes best friends with the fun loving Robin (Wilson), who is always up for a good time.
Alice isn’t the only woman looking for something. Her sister Meg is married to her career, and up until now, has had no desire to be in a relationship or have a baby. That suddenly changes after spending all of five minutes with a patient’s child and from there she decides to get artificially inseminated. Shortly after that, Meg meets Ken (Jake Lacy), a young receptionist at Alice’s work who she winds up dating.
Finally we have Lucy (Brie), who has designed a dating algorithm to help her find her perfect match and she puts herself on multiple dating websites in order to better her chances. Unfortunately, due to poor internet service in her apartment, she hangs out at the bar downstairs where she becomes friends with the bar owner (the same one that slept with Alice). The one thing connecting all the characters is actually Tom’s bar where everyone seems to frequent.
“How to Be Single”, does have a few laughs, mainly thanks to Wilson, who seems to be effortlessly funny. Without her, the whole thing would be a complete bore. I have yet to be impressed by Dakota Johnson. I am not sure if it’s her or the characters she plays, but she just comes across as very unlikable. This is not a good thing when they are the lead in a romantic comedy. Because it’s the holiday of love, I am sure “How to Be Single” will find an audience, I just wish it was a better film.
By: Marc Ferman