Welcome to A-Z Movie Reviews. Every Sunday, for the next several months, I will be posting a review of a film in my home movie collection. How it works is, I will be reviewing movies in alphabetical order until I get to the letter Z (Yes, I do have a film that ends in Z). Now I realize there are many ways to alphabetize a film collection, but this is mine so don’t judge me. This is simply for fun.
It’s pretty perfect that for this installment of A-Z Movie Reviews we’re talking about How To Be Single starring Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson, and Alison Brie. You’re probably thinking why? So I’ll tell you. First off, it’s valentines day and second it’s the perfect film to watch for Galentine’s day which is what we’re all about.
What it’s about:
A group of young adults navigate love and relationships in New York City.
How To Be Single focuses on the lives of four women; Alice (Johnson), Robin (Wilson), Meg (Mann), and Lucy (Brie) who are all living in New York and on their own relationship journey.
Alice (Johnson), has just moved to New York city to work as a paralegal after breaking up with her college boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun). She tells him it’s just a temporary one while she tries to figure out who she is and what she wants. She moves in with her sister Meg (Mann) who works as an OB/Gyn Doctor. While in New York she meets and befriends her Australian co-worker Robin (Wilson) who introduces her to the single life.
Alice is in love with the city and the night life and after various meaningless hook-ups she realizes that she made a mistake in breaking up with Josh. She tries to get back together with him but he’s not having it and he lets her know just how he feels.
After that, she gets into a new relationship but that one doesn’t work out either. She spends a lot of time struggling to find herself and she’s so used to being with someone that she’s afraid to be single. Eventually, she learns that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being single for awhile and taking the time to know and love yourself.
Meg (Mann), is very dedicated to her medical career and she’s happy being single and has no plans to have kids until one day a patient leaves her alone with her baby for a few minutes. Meg falls in love with the baby and realizes she doesn’t feel as fulfilled as she once thought she was. She decides to have a baby through a sperm donor and immediately after she becomes pregnant, she meets a sweet guy named Ken (Jake Lacy).
Ken is kind and caring and completely accepting of her being pregnant from sperm donation. She tries to push him away because she is so used to being in control of every situation and she’s not ready to give up control to another person. Ken let’s her know that she can’t control everything and he makes it clear he still wants to be there for her even if she won’t admit she needs him too.
Robin (Wilson), is a free spirit and plays by nobodies rules but her own. She teaches Alice how to navigate the single life and they become the best of friends. The thing with Robin is, she’s looking for friendship so she struggles with watching Alice fall in and out of relationships because she sees how they consume her whole life. Robin feels left out when Alice gets into a new relationship and she lets her know.
Alice doesn’t understand why Robin is upset when she’s the one who told her that she should be hooking up and having fun. Robin doesn’t deny that but she never intended for Alice to become consumed by every relationship she got into. Robin wants her friend back and though she didn’t let Alice know how she felt in the best way, the message was clear.
Lastly, Lucy (Brie) is a bit of a hot mess. She’s stuck trying to find her soulmate and using dating sites to do it which is never a good idea. She has this dream of the perfect husband and the kids with the nice house and that’s just unrealistic. She too goes through her fair share of bad dates and relationships until she finally finds the man of her dreams right under her nose and he’s not on a computer screen.
How To Be Single is such a feel good movie and one of my favorite Dakota Johnson movies. It always makes me smile and laugh and I can identify with Alice in many different ways. What’s great about this film is there are so many women that any of us can identify with. I love the message behind this movie too because it teaches you that it’s okay to be single. There is nothing wrong with learning who you are first before getting into a relationship because getting to know yourself is one of the most important relationships you will ever have.
It’s the perfect day to enjoy this movie. What do you think? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
How To Be Single is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
