Movie Review: How To Be Single

It’s that time of year again- turn on the TV and you’re bombarded with a never ending onslaught of jewelry, chocolate and HTBSflower commercials, demanding that you impress your sweetheart with nothing less than the perfect night. A night which wouldn’t be complete without dinner and a movie. What would Valentine’s be without its close relative the chick flick?

As we settled in to our (admittedly kick ass) reclining lounge chair at the theater, the Husband and I prepared for 2 hours of your typical girly movie formula: Girl cant get her life together, girls meets boy, girl and boy break up, girl’s friends convince her she’s better than him, girl finds herself, boy and girl reconcile. And for the first 20 minutes, I couldn’t tell if I was watching a real chick movie or an SNL spoof of a chick movie. As Alice (Dakota Johnson) prepares to graduate from college and move on to the real world, she splits with her boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) in order to get the space to find herself. She moves to NYC to live with her sister Meg (Leslie Mann)-cue stereotypical taxi on the Brooklyn Bridge shot here- and meets up with party girl and single life lover Robin (rebel Wilson). Robin and Alice begin their single girl party life amid a host of other characters, male and female, all out to find themselves and figure out life in the big wide world.

Ultimately, How To Be Single had a much more female-positive tone than I expected going in. Rather than fall for the typical chick flick tropes, the movie surprised me at just about every turn. I can honestly say it’s the first time that Rebel Wilson didn’t make me want to hurl things at the screen. (And yes, I know that’s Pitch Perfect blasphemy.) From the well-rounded male characters to the honest portrayals of single and coupled life, How To Be Single was an enjoyable surprise, appropriate for Galentines and Valentines dates alike. See it in theaters February 12th.

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