The Hating Game (movie) is… just fine.

This review contains spoilers for the book and the movie.

Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game is justly beloved. As Em wrote in her review, the novel is quirky, funny, romantic, delightful, and most of all, charming. It’s also sexy as hell. Romancelandia was pumped when Thorne’s book was optioned in 2017 and we’ve waited ever since to see Lucy and Josh on the big screen. Yesterday, they arrived–the movie landed in theaters and may also be streamed.

I’ll admit, I’ve been nervous about this adaptation–favorite books so rarely make favorite movies. I watched it with Dr. Feelgood, curious to see what he’d think about it–he loved it, sap that he is. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I enjoyed it and suspect many of you will too.

 

Let me start by talking about what works.

I give high marks for the casting–Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell not only give lovely life to Thorne’s […]

By |2021-12-11T15:29:59-05:00December 11th, 2021|Categories: Movies|Tags: , |29 Comments
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Best looking on screen couple of all time?

A friend came over this weekend and said he and his 22 year old daughter had been discussing this for fun and, no shock, had completely different answers to the question: Who is the most attractive on-screen couple of all time?

His daughter felt it was impossible to beat Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. […]

By |2021-10-04T08:17:07-04:00October 4th, 2021|Categories: Movies|Tags: |64 Comments
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Over the Big Mis

Last night my mom and I watched the 1995 rom com While You Were Sleeping and…. well, let’s just say it was not for us. (My mom, every 15 fifteen minutes: This makes no sense.) What we disliked the most about it–and there is a list–is its premise. None of the film would have been necessary–and that would have been a good thing–if Sandra Bullock’s Lucy had just said, with her famous I really just want to be loved smile, “Sorry, there’s been a big misunderstanding.” […]

By |2021-03-08T08:05:11-05:00March 8th, 2021|Categories: Dabney AAR, Movies|Tags: , , |43 Comments
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Bite Me: A Love Story for Our Time by Naomi McDougall Jones

I love a good romance story. In fact, there is almost no feeling that I love more than that heart-stretching, swelly feeling when the two lovers have left each other but might get back together but you’re not quite sure they actually will get back together and, oh my goodness, what if they don’t, but they have to, right, because it’s a romance, right?! – feeling. […]

By |2019-07-05T14:14:16-04:00July 5th, 2019|Categories: Movies|Tags: , , |2 Comments
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Summer Lovin’ Movie Recs Vol 2

Back at the end of June, Dabney made some fantastic summer movie suggestions that went straight on my must-watch list. And of course those ideas got me to thinking about some under-the-radar picks that I’ve enjoyed while staying out of the heat. Most of these have been out for a few years, but they still work great if you’re looking for the on-screen equivalent of the light and fluffy rom-com beach read.

Two Night Stand – Starring nerd-cute Miles Teller and the absolutely adorable Analeigh Tipton, Two Night Stand is the perfect antidote for 90+ temperatures and sky-high humidity. Twenty-something Megan has hit relationship rock bottom. When her roommate suggests that it’s time to shake things up by having a no-strings attached hook-up with Alec, a random guy she picked from a dating website, Megan figures she’s got nothing to lose. But their one-night stand turns into a multi-day ordeal as Megan and Alec are literally snowed into […]

By |2018-07-24T18:51:21-04:00July 25th, 2018|Categories: AAR Jenna, Movies|Tags: , |3 Comments
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Hot-Headed Love

If you don’t have a teen or teen-ish person in your life, you may not have heard about the Netflix movie that has taken the teen rom-com world by storm, The Kissing Booth. Based on a self-published book by Welsh teenager-herself Beth Reekles, the story involves high school junior Elle who has a guy best-friend-from birth named Lee and the problems that arise when Elle falls in love with Lee’s older brother, bad-boy Noah, who is off-limits as far as potential romantic partners due to some friendship rules established by the besties. […]

By |2018-07-12T09:43:34-04:00July 12th, 2018|Categories: AAR Jenna, Movies, Television|Tags: |17 Comments
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Don’t Call Me Honey

Suzanne Brockmann’s Prince Joe was published in 1996, not exactly what we think of as the Dark Ages of feminism. But when I pulled it off my keeper shelf for a reread the other day, I noticed something that drove me absolutely bonkers: nicknaming.

The hero, Joe Catalanotto, is a Navy SEAL who grew up poor in New Jersey but happens to be a dead ringer for the prince of Ustanzia. When a wanted terrorist group tries to assassinate the prince, Joe steps in to impersonate him as bait. Veronica St. John’s job is to teach Joe how to pass as the prince. With just 48 hours until the tour resumes, and with admirals and senators involved and the economy of the prince’s country and the fate of one of America’s Most Wanted on the line, […]

By |2017-06-23T08:30:00-04:00May 5th, 2017|Categories: Caroline AAR, Characters, Movies|35 Comments
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