Mr. Movie: Singling out ‘How to be Single’ as one of worst of the year
How to be Single is aimed at 20-somethings. Most of them already know the pleasures and pitfalls of being single.
It reminds me of What Women Want from 2000. I was single at the time and took extra notebooks and a couple of pens to make sure I got all of the film’s advice. When the credits rolled, all the pages in the notebooks were blank.
And if you take your own notebooks to this one, they’ll end up blank too. Blank is also a great description of the content of this movie. It’s not funny. It’s not dramatic. It’s not deep. It’s just blank.
The film stars 50 Shades of Grey’s electrifying Dakota Johnson, who is wonderful. Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Jake Lacy, Anders Holm and Damon Wayans Jr. fill out the cast. All are good actors wasted in a lame, recycled plot.
The attraction is Wilson. Normally, I love her, but in this movie she’s obnoxious and has no funny lines. Worse, remove her character from the movie, and it’s a better film.
How to be Single
Director: Christian Ditter
Stars: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Damon Wayans, Jr., Anders Holm, Jake Lacy
Mr. Movie rating: 1 star
Rated R for mature themes, sex, drugs and drinking. It’s playing at the Carmike 12, the Fairchild Cinemas 12 and Queensgate 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Singling out ‘How to be Single’ as one of worst of the year."