<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Christian Ditter. Starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Anders Holm, Damon Wayans Jr, Jake Lacy, Jason Mantzoukas, Nicholas Braun

Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

I did not expect this film to be so good and funny.

You expect a film like this during Valentine’s Day week. Something about romance or something about people who are single. Movies where couples can go and hold hands and watch the film and get all mushy. Awww. Rubbish!

With How To Be Single you have a film for the new age with a mix of different elements that should appeal to people of varied statuses on their FB profile: married, single, dating, divorced etc.

In How To Be Single, Alice (Dakota Johnson) has been in a relationship for as long as she can remember but she needs a break to discover herself. So off she goes out in the real world, leaving her boyfriend for a bit and joining a law firm where she meets Robin (Rebel Wilson) who teaches her how to have some fun and make the most of her break. She makes out with hot bartender Tom (Anders Holm) at the local pub and then wants to go back to her old boyfriend who will have none of it. In the meantime, Tom is starting to have feelings for a regular at his bar (Alison Brie); she is busy looking for the man of her dreams to marry after 18 months of dating.

Alice’s sister (Leslie Mann) is a doctor who delivers babies but doesn’t want to have one; well at least not until she realises she has nothing but her job to keep her warm at night. So there’s lots of sub plots happening here too but everything is just woven together nicely.

How To Be Single is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time. At first you don’t want to laugh at Robin’s vulgar analogies and outrageous antics but you just can’t help yourself. And everyone in the film manages to deliver their lines with such dexterity and brilliance that they become believable characters in a world where being single ultimately isn’t as bad as people think. Also what’s great is that the film sidesteps cliché and avoids being predictable.

There are some great messages in the film about men and women and expectations and love. The only thing I sort of didn’t like was the formula of making the girl the one who avoids the guy and plays hard to get with the guy having to do the wooing etc. But even that is balanced and not cloying.

Don’t even think about watching the horrible The Choice that released last week. How To Be Single is the perfect film to watch on Valentine’s Day (or any other day for that matter), even more so for all the singles out there.

PS: The soundtrack is bubbly and adds a lot to the film too.