The plot of How to Be Single (2016), directed by Christian Ditter, is all in the name really! There are six main characters who all in New York, all with different stories that are interconnected. Another thing they all have in common is their desire to not be single and find the right one. However, it is through this desire to not be single that they actually learn two big life lessons…
1. It is okay to be single and alone
2. Finding love, dating and one night stands can actually result in a lot of heartbreak and low self-esteem, but we always somehow find ourselves running back to it.
The film takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, especially if you are also single and find the situations somewhat familiar and commonplace (no judgement whatsoever), but anyone in a relationship who perhaps can’t imagine life “without your bae” may also find that being single is actually not THAT bad and people can still live a happy, fulfilled life.
However – spoiler alert – the ending is SO cute. The film ends with the main character, Alice, deciding to finally stick to her dream, enjoy her single life and go hiking on the Grand Canyon on New Year’s Eve to watch the first sunrise. I particularly enjoyed the ending as it showed her character development.
At the start of the film, Alice found it particularly difficult to stay single after being in her previous relationship with Josh for four years, who she recently broke off an engagement with. However after Alice decides single life is definitely not for her, she meets with Josh again only to find that he has already moved on and started seeing somebody else.
Alice is left feeling upset and lonely for being single out of her own greediness, and so she is forced to embrace being single. This makes the ending a massive achievement for her as she finally learns to accept her single life and be an independent woman who “don’t need no man”!
My favourite character has to be Robin as she embodies being single throughout, and yet remains a party girl who happily enjoys having one night stands. She also guides Alice on how to be single and shows her the best parties in New York.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film and the number of different scenarios that were all inter-linked within the characters; it’s not just about learning how to be single but carefully depicts the issues that come with being single, such as deciding you want children, how commonly one night stands are used to escape feeling lonely, and how to cope with emotional baggage.
It doesn’t dwell on being single as such, but instead focuses more on the problems and obstacles that come with accepting life without a relationship in it. The ending wasn’t happy or sad, but represented newly found independence in a beautiful way… I highly recommend a watch if you haven’t!
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