When you think about romcoms you usually don’t expect them to be based on a self-help book. Those movies exist though and both Think Like a Man and He’s Just Not That Into You are examples of that. The latter one was based on a book by Liz Tuccillo, which is also the case with this film.
Alice (Dakota Johnson) decides to temporarily leave her boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) (like Ross in Friends would say “they’re on a break”). She has managed to get a job at a law firm in New York and is looking for new experiences. She stays over at her sister Meg (Leslie Mann) and still has to get used to her new life. Her colleague Robin (Rebel Wilson) is more than prepared to teach her how to be single in New York. Because of that she meets Tom (Anders Holm), a bartender who is a pro when it comes to one night stands and does everything in order to get the women he shares the bed with out of his life as fast and efficient as possible. Tom forms the link to another character in the film, Lucy (Alison Brie), who claims to have developed the perfect algorithm for finding the perfect man on a dating site.
How To Be Single shows how these singles (and some others) deal with their search for a one night stand/the right one etcetera.The main focus of the film is on Alice and the people around her. That storyline is the beating heart of the film, but you also see what Tom and Lucy are going through. The problem with that is that they don’t add much to the main story (especially Lucy), giving you a feeling that the movie wouldn’t have been much different had they been left out. The things Alice and Meg experience are the funniest, although I have to admit that Rebel Wilson plays the same role she always seems to do. She does have a lot of funny one-liners and moments though. The film doesn’t seem to have a clear direction and although I was entertained, I’d rather would have watched something else. The women I know though all like it, so that might be a good indication whether or not you would want to see this film.
Great review! I think you enjoyed this a little more than me, I was disappointed. There’s too much going on and the fact that Alison Brie’s character never meets the other girls seemed like a wasted opportunity 🙁
– Allie
I like Rebel Wilson, she’s a hoot! This doesn’t seem like my kind of movie though, so not sure if I’ll ever get around to seeing it.
Great review. I’m still staying away from this one. Not a fan of Rebel Wilson and this particular brand of humor doesn’t do it for me.
You won’t miss much Keith!