How to Be Single

Vorlage:Use mdy dates Vorlage:Infobox film How to Be Single is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Christian Ditter and written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, based on the novel of the same name by Liz Tuccillo. Starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie, and Leslie Mann, the film was released on February 12, 2016, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Plot

Alice (Dakota Johnson) temporarily dumps her college boyfriend Josh and moves to New York City to be a paralegal. She moves in with her sister, a OB/GYN considering having a child as a single mother via sperm donor. Alice befriends wild co-worker Robin (Rebel Wilson) who enjoys partying and one-night stands. Robin introduces her to Tom (Anders Holm), a bartender who has willfully embraced the bachelor lifestyle and enjoys numerous casual hookups. However, Tom has a crush on Lucy (Alison Brie), who lives close to his bar and is looking for the perfect guy on every dating site possible, even employing the use of algorithms to find one. Alice, taken to Tom's bar by Robin, sleeps with Tom, who explains to her his desire for strictly casual relations with women and shows her the measures he takes to avoid commitment. He fist-bumps her as she leaves. Alice meets with Josh at a pancake restaurant to tell him she is "done" with their break and is ready to get back together. Josh explains that they can't get back together because he is seeing someone else, which distresses and upsets Alice.

Meanwhile, Alice's older sister, Meg (Leslie Mann), who previously decided she did not want to pursue relationships or have children, has a change of heart and decides to have a child via sperm donor. The first in- vitro attempt fails. She starts dating Ken shortly after learning the second IVF attempt was successful, and she hides the pregnancy from him.

Back at Tom's bar, Lucy has a string of bad dates with men she met on dating websites. Tom witnesses all of them and begins to feel despondent and jealous, leading him to realize he has an emotional attraction to Lucy. As her sister kindles her own relationship and goes through her pregnancy, Alice continues to pine after Josh. In an attempt to "put herself out there" she attends a Wesleyan alumni networking event, where she briefly converses with a man named David. Later, Alice and Robin attend Josh's winter holiday party, and as Alice watches Josh dance with and kiss his new girlfriend, Michelle, she becomes melancholy and leaves the party to look at the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Walking down the street, she runs into David, the man she met from the networking event. She invites him to go look at the tree with her, but in reply David says he has to show her something. They go to an empty building under construction, which David reveals to have a striking window view of the Christmas tree. Dazzled, Alice thanks him and they begin a relationship. Three months later, as Alice is singing with David's daughter, Phoebe, David becomes upset and asks Alice what she's doing, reminding her sternly that she's "not Phoebe's mother". Confused, Alice says she didn't mean to upset David and asks him why he's so closed off, particularly about Phoebe's mother. The two break up.

Lucy, having been in a relationship for three weeks with a man named Paul, goes to Grand Central to send him off to the train. Paul reveals that he has been seeing other people, thinking she was doing the same, and breaks up with her. Lucy is extremely agitated and breaks down at her volunteer job reading stories to children, regaling the children with tales about princes who leave princesses and starts trying to cut her Spanx off her body with child-safety scissors. George, who works at the bookstore, soothes her and the two start dating. Later, Alice takes Tom up on his offer to get drunk. The two talk about their frustrations with their feelings for Josh and Lucy and end up sleeping together in an attempt to distract themselves. They fist-bump as Alice leaves.

Meanwhile, Meg's boyfriend Ken discovers she is pregnant, but is eager to help raise her child. Meg, concerned that the relationship will fail after the baby is born, ends the relationship.

Later, at Alice's birthday party, Robin has invited Tom, David, and Josh without Alice's knowledge. Alice is shaken by the presence of all three men at her party and argues with Robin. Still at the party, Tom has gone to confess his feelings to Lucy, who, engaged to George from the bookstore, rejects him flippantly. George, having overheard the exchange, mocks him and leaves. Tom goes home and repairs his tap water plumbing, which he had purposely cut in an attempt to prevent thirsty, hungover women from hanging around his apartment in the morning.

Alice, who has gone out to sit on the fire escape alone, is joined by Josh. The two make out passionately, but stop when Alice is horrified to learn that Josh is still engaged to Michelle. Alice, invigorated by a desire to find herself as a single woman, leaves to go home. Her cab hits Robin, who has purposely jumped on the windshield to get a cab for Meg, who is in labor. Alice and Meg go to the hospital, where Meg successfully delivers her baby. Ken appears and convinces her to re-enter the relationship with reassurances. They kiss and talk to the baby together.

Alice goes to Robin's apartment to resolve their argument, surprised to see that it is large and filled with expensive items. Robin reveals that she is "super-rich", despite having never paid the bill when the two went out. The argument is resolved and they spend the rest of the day together in Robin's apartment. The film closes as Alice reflects on her time living alone and being single. She is seen hiking the Grand Canyon by herself, which she had previously mentioned that she wanted to do in conversations with Josh and David.

Cast

• Dakota Johnson as Alice
• Rebel Wilson as Robin
• Alison Brie as Lucy
• Leslie Mann as Meg
• Nicholas Braun as Josh
• Jason Mantzoukas as George
• Damon Wayans, Jr. as David
• Colin Jost as Paul
• Jake Lacy as Ken
• Anders Holm as Tom
• Sarah Ramos as Michelle
• Nick Bateman as an actor

Production

In 2008, Liz Tuccillo's debut novel How to Be Single was released; the film rights were bought the same year by New Line Cinema, and Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen were set to produce the film through Flower Films. Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein were hired to adapt the novel. On March 15, 2011, it was announced that Barrymore would also direct the romantic comedy film. On December 17, 2013, New Line set Love, Rosie's director Christian Ditter to direct instead, with Barrymore and Juvonen still producing, while Dana Fox wrote the next draft of the film, which Warner Bros. would release.

Lily Collins was in early talks on February 24, 2014, to join the cast of the film (she ultimately did not appear). Alison Brie was in talks to join the film on June 19, 2014. Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, and Leslie Mann were all cast in the film on January 29, 2015. Damon Wayans, Jr. was added to the cast on March 6, 2015. Jason Mantzoukas and Nicholas Braun were also cast, on April 14, 2015; Braun played the love interest of Johnson's character, while Mantzoukas played the love interest of Brie's. Anders Holm was cast as Tom, and Saturday Night Live performer Colin Jost was also cast in a supporting role.

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on April 20, 2015 in New York City, and ended on August 15, 2015.

Release

How to Be Single was released on February 12, 2016.

Reception

Box office

Vorlage:Asof, How to Be Single has grossed $31.8 million in North America and $24.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $55.9 million, against a budget of $38 million.

The film was released on February 12, 2016, alongside Deadpool and Zoolander 2. Over its four-day President's Day opening weekend, the film was projected to gross $20–25 million from 3,343 theaters. The film made $700,000 from its Thursday night previews and $5.3 million on its first day. It went on to gross $17.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behind Deadpool ($132.8 million) and Kung Fu Panda 3 ($19.8 million). In its second weekend the film grossed $8.2 million (a 54% drop), finishing fifth at the box office.

Critical response

How to Be Single has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 47%, based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "How to Be Single boasts the rough outline of a feminist rom-com, but too willingly indulges in the genre conventions it wants to subvert." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Richard Roeper gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising the film's supporting cast and script.

External links

• Vorlage:Official website
• Vorlage:IMDb title
• Vorlage:Mojo title
• How to Be Single bei Rotten Tomatoes (englisch)
• How to Be Single bei Metacritic (englisch)