Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you like comedies or chick flicks, yes!
Score: 3.5/5
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 109 minutes (~2 hours)
“How To Be Single” is a comedy chick flick about newly single lady Alice. Together with her best friend, Robin, and older sister, Meg, they roam New York looking for love, casual relationships and fun. It stars Dakota Johnson (Alice), Rebel Wilson (Robin), Alison Brie (Lucy), Leslie Mann (Meg), Nicholas Braun (Josh), Jason Mantzoukas (George), and Damon Wayans Jr. (David). It is rated NC-16.
“How To Be Single” showcases the talents of the amazing Rebel Wilson, as she takes on another comedic role with unabashed enthusiasm. It’s really a chick flick, as my viewing partner pointed out, but its colourful and appealing female cast means that this film appeals to both genders, without sacrificing anything that makes it a fun flick to watch.
Highlights
Rebel Wilson as foul mouthed Robin
She’s great as the highly animated but dirty-minded Robin whose every other comment is laden with fornication-related innuendo (or in most cases, outright references to copulation). Rebel Wilson manages to pull off this bold persona without coming across as a slave to carnality, and gives us a strong, independent, modern woman. Her expletive-laden insults of Alice’s various hang-ups and body parts are endearing precisely because they mirror the kind of closeness that real friends have.
Incisive comments on today’s society
“How To Be Single” makes very insightful observations on the state of relationships in today’s society, with some very cutting but truthful commentary on how men and women interact. It points out the commitment and over-commitment issues that people have without sugarcoating them, and unapologetically calls out bad behaviour. Yet it still manages to show that some time-tested truths about love and romance will always ring true, regardless of the era.
Tongue-in-cheek jokes and references
“How To Be Single” is primarily a comedy, and it pulls out all the stops on off-colour jokes of all kinds. But it delivers them with class and wit, rather than relying on the crassness of the topic to draw out the funnies. It’s not afraid to make jibes at itself, and connects much of the comedy with current affairs and pop culture references of today.
Letdowns
So much product placement
You can hardly go ten minutes without spotting some sort of brand prominently inserted into the film. There’s even a sequence near the beginning that goes into full on advertising mode, hitting you with a smorgasbord of brands. It reaches Jack Neo-product placement levels, which is irritating and distracting.
Dakota Johnson is a bland Alice
Alice is, to put it bluntly, boring. She goes off on random tangents as a function of the plot, rather than having proper character motivation to do so. She tries to be a doormat but ends up being a whiny, self-obsessed protagonist. Her relationships and character are a forgettable, colourlesss smudge. It’s understandable why she’s single.
“How To Be Single” gives us a chick flick for all sexes, and elevates Rebel Wilson into one of the comedy greats of our generation.
“How To Be Single” opens in cinemas 18 February, 2016 (Thursday).
This review was first published on Yahoo.
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