Watching "How to Be
Single," yet another comedy released this year hoping that its
mediocrity will be forgotten by the time the halfway point of the year
comes around, I began to feel a certain pessimistic sadness wash over
me. This is presumably a film to showcase the daily events of many
single people in heavily metropolitan areas with few cares and big plans
every single weekend. Of course, one must reserve some incredulous
circumstances that occur in the film as being part of the theatrical
spice, but fundamentally, we can hopefully agree that this film looks to
profile the kind of debauchery young, single people hope for on their
Friday and Saturday nights while they're not confined to one person.
In
"How to Be Single," nobody talks to one another, nobody genuinely cares
about the emotional well-being of one another, and nobody seems to hold
kind of pride or self-respect for one another, male or female. This is
an observation on my part and not a testament that the characters of the
film should live according to my personal standards. I've never been
one for telling people how to live their lives, for I'd be damned if
they told me how to live mine. Having said that, however, there is not a
shred of honesty or decency on part of these characters; there's just
an engagement in mindless actions, empty sex, and a desire for a
lifestyle of free drinks and early headaches. If there were ever a film
to show just why young people's relationships suffer and why commitment
is so difficult to find, it's "How to Be Single."
After that
lofty opening, you're probably expecting an intensely negative review on
my part. You'd be wrong, for I didn't hate "How to Be Single; in fact, I
found myself laughing quite frequently and holding great admiration for
its talented cast of performers, all of whom have high energy and
fearless comedic presences. But even before the lights came back on, I
felt uneasy after most laughs and each scene that involved characters
practically throwing themselves at one another for sex, one male
character explaining his methods to have the perfect one-night stand,
and the umpteenth sex story Rebel Wilson's character explains in
elaborate detail, I began to wince and quietly keep to myself. It's
almost to the point where you can place the death of commitment and
honesty between people when sex or a potential relationship is involved
alongside the death of chivalry.
The film revolves around Alice
("Fifty Shades of Grey"'s Dakota Johnson), a young woman who is dumped
by her boyfriend before moving to New York City to work in a law firm.
She moves in with Meg (Leslie Mann), her single, workaholic sister who
is considering having a kid as a single mother via a sperm donor, in
addition to befriending her bawdy co-worker Robin (Rebel Wilson), who
holds her countless one-night stands as a badge of honor. During her
time in New York City, Alice meets Tom (Anders Holm), an attractive
bartender who has rigged his apartment to basically beg a woman to leave
after sleeping with him, despite his crush on Lucy (Alison Brie), a
bar-regular who spends her time wasting away on dating sites.
As
stated, "How to Be Single" features a slew of commendable, high-energy
performances by actors who will go on to be tomorrow's regular comedy
headliners. Dakota Johnson shows her talents in a lead role that allows
for more freedom outside of confining dialog and flat emotions, Leslie
Mann continues to prove herself as one of the funniest and most likable
actresses in comedy, Alison Brie, despite having fairly brief scenes,
manages to make the most out of them with her sarcasm and dry wit, and
Wilson creates a fun, if standard, physical role for her character
thanks to her fearless on-screen presence.
This is one of those
films where I seriously hope the actors got paid more than the writers
because they almost effectively undermine the shortcomings and
noticeable imperfections of the screenplay every chance they get. Sadly,
the trio of writers, Dana Fox, Abby Kohn, and Marc Silverstein, nearly
spoil the pot here by throwing too many ingredients in without adequate
preparation. Many of the plot-strands in this film aren't well
developed, and much like hookup culture itself, real relationships are
stunted and have an inability to develop when there's simultaneously too
much and too little going on. One doesn't really notice this until the
film ends and they're walking out of the theater, to their car, or to
the bathroom and reflecting on how desperately little in this film gets
solved as a result of the film's scattershot tendencies.
This
sort of disorganized narrative may have been more forgivable if the film
had something groundbreaking, or at least meaningful, to say about
being single, but it makes the same inexcusable thematic misstep as last
year's "Paper Towns" with its end monologue. It basically states that
going out and having carnal sex, mistreating others, and playing with
people's emotions is okay so long is it's in the pursuit of
self-discovery, which is unforgivable, unacceptable, and absolutely
ludicrous. A film with this kind of theme is harmful, but thankfully it
doesn't pander it to the extent of "Paper Towns."
While "How to
Be Single" is frequently entertaining and sporadically funny, it's also
thematically problematic and, all-around, misguided with its casual
depictions of treating people unfairly and justifying the character's
poor behavior as a path to finding themselves. The commendable cast do
all that they can to save this film, but the flaws are too weight to
save a spiraling plane from heading anywhere but downwards.
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the
1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead
by members of his own hunting team.
