A Review: "The Hating Game" (Film)
I have to be honest here: I did not finish The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. I made it about 150 pages (which is a lot!!!!) and couldn’t finish. The plot didn’t hold up for me. The main characters, Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman, didn’t have a good character development for me. I couldn’t relate to the characters as much — and not to say I need the characters to be exactly like me, but I still would like to feel a familiar association with the characters. (If that makes sense.) I held off from watching the movie for so long, because I just wasn’t into the book and the story, but I finally watched it.
And it was sub-par.
I wish I could say I liked Lucy Hale and the guy who played Josh Templeman, but honestly? I didn’t. I think they both had good moments throughout the film, but I didn’t like the chemistry. Sure, their moments where they “weren’t speaking” (you can get the picture), they had good chemistry, but I just feel like their banter wasn’t as good. Compared to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (the iconic enemies-to-lovers couple in You’ve Got Mail), Noah Centieneo and Lana Condor in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and even Anthony and Kate in season two of Bridgerton. (I’m sure there are tons of other examples that are better than this banter in this movie, but these are off the top of my head.)
And as a disclaimer, I usually like Lucy Hale and the films and TV she’s in (I was a big PLL fan), so this isn’t a blog post review bashing Lucy Hale. Overall, I liked her portrayal of Lucy Hutton.
Also, I actually enjoy reading (and watching) enemies-to-lovers books. Do I say that it’s my favorite romance trope? Not my favorite, but I think a lot of my favorite romance books (and books overall) are enemies-to-lovers (Beach Read, The Unhoneymooners, A Court of Mist and Fury, Tweet Cute). With that being said, I think any of these books could easily be turned into a movie. Sure, The Hating Game is a classic enemies-to-lovers, but there are plenty of other enemies-to-lovers that are just as good — and even better — that can be movies.
The romance between Lucy Hutton (played by Lucy Hale) and Joshua Templeman (played by Austin Stowell) felt forced to me; when they finally kissed, I was like, whoa how did that happen? (I had to rewind a couple scenes because tbh, I was on my phone during that time.) At one moment, they were hating each other and calling each other names, and then another, they were all hot and heavy? AND THEN, as they continued their love fest and as it escalated into a “relationship,” they still went on hating each other and competing with one another? I get it — they had a goal of getting the job title of Managing Director for their agency they worked at, but it felt confusing to see in few scenes they were competing with one another and then literally making out with one another in the next scene.
Side note: Apparently, they had originally cast Robbie Amell to play the role of Joshua Templeman, but he had to back out so they went with Austin Stowell. Personally, I would’ve loved to see Robbie Ammell duke it out with Lucy Hale in this film, and possibly that would have made the movie 10x better or at least given it one extra star for me. But that’s not to discredit Austin Stowell’s performance — I think he’s a great actor with a good potential for other rom-coms.
I get that this is the case with a lot of rom-coms where even though they’ve kissed, they still continue hating each other, but with other rom-coms like You’ve Got Mail (I will never stop referencing that movie), there was a better flow from enemies to lovers. I feel like this movie was more of an enemies and lovers at the same time?
Am I going to dissuade anyone and everyone from watching this movie? Absolutely not. I think it’s a great weekend or weeknight movie to turn on when you’re in the mood for a good rom-com or want to watch with your significant other. But will I rank it in my top five rom-coms of all time? No.
Rating: 3/5