Film critics bridle when people say cinema is no good compared to series television. But put this dire relationship romcom up against any box set of HBO’s Girls and I have to bow my head. It’s a New York ensemble comedy about romance and dating, supposedly unfashionably pro being single while somehow managing to imply that coupledom is, underneath it all, what’s important. Dakota Johnson is newly single, or single-ish, having initiated a temporary Ross’n’Rachel-type break from her college boyfriend. She comes to the big city, and hangs out with her (single) older sister, Leslie Mann, who is trying to get pregnant through a sperm donor. Meanwhile, Alison Brie is developing dating apps and algorithms on her laptop and flirting with a cute bartender. And Rebel Wilson – usually a great comic – is stuck with the role of Johnson’s outrageous manic pixie fat/funny dream friend: an essentially sacrificial character, whose job is to facilitate Johnson’s emotional journey but who is not herself entitled to personal growth. Wilson has one or two good lines, but this film looks like it’s been put together by one of Brie’s dodgy algorithms.
