How to Be Single
Warner Bros. | Release Date: February 12, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
15
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 11, 2016
It’s one of the most endearing romantic comedies in recent memory, with some laugh-out-loud dialogue, gorgeous photography and uniformly charming performances from the entire cast. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Feb 11, 2016
This smart, raunchy comedy is a movie aimed at women. Full of frank, just-us-girls talk about men and wicked gags about drunken sex and intimate "landscaping," it's probably a poor choice for date night. But it's a great pick for girl's night out. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattFeb 11, 2016
How to Be Single is a lot like its Jager-bombing, romance-seeking protagonists: Cute and goofy and kind of a mess. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicKayla S. SamoyFeb 11, 2016
How to Be Single has enough laughs and heartfelt moments to appeal to all generations. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFeb 10, 2016
Much like its characters' romantic lives, How to Be Single is more enjoyable when it's being casual. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKimber MyersFeb 11, 2016
Though How to Be Single marks progress from the standard genre narrative and gives Alice in particular a chance to be herself, it’s not a clean win. But I certainly had fun getting dirty with it. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeFeb 10, 2016
You might say that How To Be Single suffers from the influence of its older, more put-together sister Sex And The City, right down to the sappy montage and voice-over it needs to tie everything together at the end. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 10, 2016
How to Be Single isn't doing anything that some flop probably starring Katherine Heigl hasn't done before. This appealing cast at times works wonders with what they're being asked to play. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireFeb 12, 2016
Think of How to Be Single as a cinematic Whitman’s Sampler: There are enough pieces that work to offset the pieces that don’t. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelFeb 11, 2016
The execution may not be there, but at least it has good intentions. Then again, you know what they say about the road to hell. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 11, 2016
Roughly half the scenes are terrible, nervously edited and predictable. The other half transcend the innate shrugginess of the script. At the end there's a dose of voice-over narration assigned to Johnson that is so, so very Carrie Bradshaw, you half-expect Sarah Jessica Parker to show up with a lawsuit. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 11, 2016
The whole affair is too cluttered to clip along, laugh to laugh, love to love. Director Christian Ditter (“Love, Rosie”) had too many characters to serve to give anybody room to breathe. Read full review
60
EmpireAdam SmithFeb 22, 2016
Aiming squarely at Carries, Mirandas, Charlottes and Samanthas, How To Be Single is familiar but fun. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerFeb 17, 2016
How to Be Single isn’t particularly hilarious, but it’s not particularly unpleasant either. The characters are likable. Their lives are fun to wander through for 100 minutes. Their small, daily battles are relatable, even to a 35-year-old dude. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeFeb 15, 2016
As modern dating movies go, How to Be Single gets a lot right. Read full review
60
Time OutCath ClarkeFeb 12, 2016
Nothing here will blow you away—think of this one as taking baby steps away from what's formulaic. Read full review
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 10, 2016
The script offers enough laughs to keep the movie from feeling completely disposable...and it outshines many of its genre peers through little touches like not punishing its female characters for enjoying sex and casting Damon Wayans Jr. (as a romantic interest for Alice) in a role in which his race is thoroughly irrelevant. Read full review
58
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerFeb 11, 2016
How To Be Single doesn’t break much at all in the way of new ground, but it’s a decent walk over well-trodden territory. Read full review
58
The Film StageDan MeccaFeb 11, 2016
From start to finish, Christian Ditter‘s How To Be Single struggles to be both a forward-thinking comedy about women dating in the modern world and a reliably generic romantic comedy that will satisfy those looking for cinematic comfort food. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Julian CarringtonFeb 11, 2016
How to Be Single at least marshals its surfeit of incident in service of a point of view that prizes individual fulfillment – in whatever form that may take – over idealized portrayals of courtship and coupledom. However clumsily delivered, it remains a message worth taking to heart. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughFeb 11, 2016
Exhausting and seemingly endless. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 11, 2016
How to Be Single is over a half hour before it’s over. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesNicole EinbinderFeb 11, 2016
An entertaining movie that, while lacking real substance or stellar acting, hints at themes to which we can definitely all relate. Read full review
50
VarietyNick SchagerFeb 10, 2016
Splintered between thinly sketched focal points rather than actually plumbing the real fear, paranoia and elation that come from operating without a romantic partner, How to Be Single never transcends its most sitcom-y instincts. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 17, 2016
I like the declarative clarity, the strength of conviction in the title. I wish the movie itself bore the same certainty, or sturdiness. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMeave GallagherFeb 16, 2016
No matter how much fibrous real talk it's wrapped in, How to Be Single has a heart made of sugary-sweet white chocolate. Read full review
40
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonFeb 11, 2016
While the book had a kernel of believability and seriousness, on screen the drama is pretty insipid. The comedy, which produces only a handful of real laughs, comes from each character in turn, with Wilson dominating – and providing the mostly verbal raunch – in her now familiar party animal persona. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 12, 2016
Though Wilson is always reason enough to see a movie, she’s stuck here in a fluffball that plays like warmed-over subplots from "Sex and the City." Read full review
30
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldFeb 11, 2016
This reheated “Sex and the City” adventure flops, even with Leslie Mann and Rebel Wilson hard at work being funny. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 12, 2016
A horrifically bad romantic comedy that serves as a celebration of entitlement, consumerism, and shallow behavior. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartFeb 11, 2016
It will probably not surprise you to learn that this film, generically directed by Christian Ditter (“Love, Rosie”), was written by the people behind 2009’s “He’s Just Not That Into You.” Seven years later, guess what? He’s still not that into you! And I wouldn’t be, either, not with this lot. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 11, 2016
Ultimately, How to Be Single feels reverse-engineered to justify its ending, which while admittedly gratifying, can’t accurately be described as happy. For that, it would have to be worth the contrivances, cliches and tedium that have gone before. Read full review
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