CAST: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Damon Wayans Jr., Anders Holm, Nicholas Braun, Alison Brie, Nicholas Braun, Jake Lacy
DIRECTION: Christian Ditter
GENRE: Romantic Comedy
DURATION: 1 hour 50 minutes
STORY: New York City forms the backdrop for the love stories of a group of lonely hearts, in this case Alice (Johnson), Meg (Mann), David (Wayans), Ken (Lacy), Tom (Holm), Josh (Braun) and Lucy (Brie). Among all of them, it's only Robin (Wilson) who isn't actually looking for love and seems to, at least on the surface, be having a great time. In a world where the definitions of love keep evolving, do they all find what they're looking for?
REVIEW: After going steady with her boyfriend Josh for a few years, Alice decides to take a break from her relationship. Not a breakup, but just a hiatus. This is, as she tells a visibly upset Josh, so that she can do what she couldn't do before. Her elder sister Meg, who is a doctor, is completely relationship-phobic. Tom is a cheeky bar owner who is only down for one night stands. But the real firecracker here, in terms of her character sketch, is Robin. She lives each day like it was her last. What's more, she is honest to a fault. When Alice meets her at the workplace, the two hit it off and how. To Ditter's credit, he does manage to create a sense of intimacy as well as fun by avoiding cliches and weaving the often-intertwining stories of each of the characters fairly deftly.
However, Dakota's performance here is somewhat lackluster. She doesn't really bring any stamp of uniqueness to the table. You could probably imagine any of her contemporaries playing the same role. Rebel Wilson however, is on overdrive here. It's almost like she's making up for the other mostly by-the-book performances by the others. By and large though, the movie puts the spotlight on how complicated the dating scenario - at least for some people - can be in contemporary times. What is a pleasant surprise though, is Damon Wayans' portrayal as a single father. Wonderfully nuanced, it adds some depth to the film. If you like stories about complicated relationships, this might be the ticket for you.
CRITIC'S RATING: 3.0/5
AVG READERS' RATING: 3.0/5
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