How To Be Single - Movie Review

So this is something I'm actually pretty good at.  I've been single for most of my life.  I was slow to the whole dating game, I think due partly to how I was raised.  I remember being in the car with my mom when I was a maybe 11 and seeing a young couple making out on the street.  My mom looked at me and was like, I never want to see you doing that!

Another reason I've been single is that I am kind of picky.  In high school, I "dated" a few guys, which didn't mean anything when you're in high school.  It meant you occasionally went to dances and movies and sometime you held hands!  I remember not liking this guy after we ate In and Out and went to the movies.  His breath smelled like onions and I was honestly turned off. My highs school experience wasn't what you see in the movies or TV, but again this goes back to my upbringing. I know my peers were doing stuff and remember my friend telling me he got his girlfriend pregnant in the 7th grade.  This blew my mind! I couldn't even comprehend having sex at that age, let alone getting pregnant.

Got a bit sidetracked there, anyways back to the movie!  I went to watch this movie on V-day by myself because my single friends either didn't want to watch it or had plans with their other single friends to watch it.  My cousin/good friend wanted to watch it but she's married with kids so it'd probably be out of theaters by the time she could get some free time.

The main character Alice is played by Dakota Johnson, the chick who I thought was wrongly cast in 50 Shades of Gray, but that's another story.  Her two best friends are her sister - Leslie Mann who is a single doctor, and the hysterical and over the top Rebel Wilson. In the film, Alice breaks up with her college boyfriend in order to find herself.  She basically tells him this is a break to make sure that they are supposed to be together.  She moves to New York to start a paralegal job and meets Rebel's character Robin who essentially takes her under her wing in the crazy single life. (Enter the Samantha character, ala Sex & The City).   Robin essentailly shows Alics her how to flirt, drink and coaches her on landing a one night stand. After having that one night stand and doing the walk of shame, she decides she wants her boyfriend back.  But he of course has moved on so she's back to the single life. Alice is of course the Carrie of the story, if we are going to compare this to the mother of all single girls in the city show. Then you have her sister Meg, who is a bit older and more established in her career - a career in delivering babies.  Although Meg has convinced herself that she never wants to have kids, one of her patient's asks Meg to watch her baby for a few minutes while she goes to the bathroom and then decides she wants a kid. (Kind of like Miranda, who doesn't decide she wants a kid but instead gets pregnant and is reluctant to stay with her current boyfriend). Then you have Lucy who's a neurotic girl who's on 15 different dating websites and is trying to figure out the algorithms so that she can successfully meet her soul mate. (Much like Charlotte, she is on a mission).

Overall I will say the movie is entertainment and has some funny and good moments, but it never fully gets there.  While I enjoyed watching it, I wasn't particularly impressed with any aspect of the movie.  I'm sure that once its on cable and rerunning like crazy, I will watch it again and perhaps my appreciate will grow.