Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson in ‘How to Be Single' (Photo: Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)
Much like its characters’ romantic lives, How to Be Single is more enjoyable when it’s being casual. Depicting the amorous misadventures of young and, in one case, not-so-young New Yorkers as they go looking for love in all the wrong places, this latest effort from the screenwriters of such films as He’s Just Not That Into You, Valentine’s Day, and What Happens in Vegas inevitably trods familiar territory. And it frequently falls flat when it tries to invest its lightweight storyline with serious philosophizing. But it offers enough fresh, off-kilter humor to provide amusing comfort to those afflicted with the titular condition on its opening Valentine’s Day weekend.
Dakota Johnson, looking far more relaxed and comfortable here than in the Red Room of Pain in 50 Shades of Grey, plays the central role of the fresh-faced Alice, who’s temporarily split up with her longtime boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) so she can find herself. Starting a new job as a paralegal at a NYC law firm, she’s instantly taken under the wing of her co-worker Robin (Rebel Wilson, not exactly cast against type), a freewheeling force of nature who instructs her in the ways of being single in the big city.
This means, of course, never paying for your own drinks and sleeping with any available guy. Although initially resistant, not to mention super awkward when it comes to attempted flirting, Alice quickly gets with the program, jumping into bed with hunky bartender Tom (Anders Holm), who’s such a player that he’s turned off his apartment’s water pipes so desperately thirsty, hungover women will be forced to leave quickly.
“You’re so … handy!” she cries, rushing to embrace him. The line says as much about the pain of failed relationships as a dozen romance novels.
Much like its characters’ romantic lives, How to Be Single is more enjoyable when it’s being casual. Depicting the amorous misadventures of young and, in one case, not-so-young New Yorkers as they go looking for love in all the wrong places, this latest effort from the screenwriters of such films as He’s Just Not That Into You, Valentine’s Day, and What Happens in Vegas inevitably trods familiar territory. And it frequently falls flat when it tries to invest its lightweight storyline with serious philosophizing. But it offers enough fresh, off-kilter humor to provide amusing comfort to those afflicted with the titular condition on its opening Valentine’s Day weekend.
Dakota Johnson, looking far more relaxed and comfortable here than in the Red Room of Pain in 50 Shades of Grey, plays the central role of the fresh-faced Alice, who’s temporarily split up with her longtime boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) so she can find herself. Starting a new job as a paralegal at a NYC law firm, she’s instantly taken under the wing of her co-worker Robin (Rebel Wilson, not exactly cast against type), a freewheeling force of nature who instructs her in the ways of being single in the big city.
This means, of course, never paying for your own drinks and sleeping with any available guy. Although initially resistant, not to mention super awkward when it comes to attempted flirting, Alice quickly gets with the program, jumping into bed with hunky bartender Tom (Anders Holm), who’s such a player that he’s turned off his apartment’s water pipes so desperately thirsty, hungover women will be forced to leave quickly.
“You’re so … handy!” she cries, rushing to embrace him. The line says as much about the pain of failed relationships as a dozen romance novels.
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